Woman in custody after crashing PD patrol car and kidnapping person inside

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It happened near Glenn and Englewood just before 8 p.m.

Officers say an owner of an auto dealership called the police, to let them know a lady was vandalizing cars in the area.

They used surveillance video to track her down to a homeless encampment and then arrested her and put her in the back of the patrol car.

As the police officer talked to the auto dealer owner about the incident another woman in the encampment got into the patrol car and took off.

"He's a veteran officer, maybe thought walking 10 feet away with nobody around with the suspect secured in the back in the vehicle that everything would be alright. Things happen out here, we're dealing with human behavior that we can't predict," said Fresno Police Lt. Carl McKnight.

A block down the road, the woman crashed the patrol car into a pole.

Neither woman inside the vehicle was injured.

The woman that took the patrol car has been arrested for auto theft and kidnapping.