Doesn't seem to be too much going on in the legal profession today, between the holidays and New York being buried in two feet of snow, so how about a ridiculous police chase to ease back into things?

Police in Vancouver, Washington, spent about ten hours Sunday morning trying to find a suspect who fled on foot from a traffic stop and then, while being pursued on foot by the deputy, somehow managed to circle back around and get into the deputy's patrol car and drive it away.

The suspect, who was apparently violating the terms of his probation, led the deputy on a foot chase of unspecified length before he circled around and (as the sheriff put it) "was able to gain entry into the deputy's patrol vehicle." (As the report notes, "[t]he sheriff's office provides no further details on how entry, and ignition, were gained.") The deputy then fired a shot at his own vehicle as it sped off without him. He apparently managed to wing the suspect, who ditched the car about a mile away and then took off again on foot.

More officers joined the search and the suspect was found in a drainage ditch from which he was "flushed out." But he somehow managed to escape again despite the fact that police dogs and a plane with an infrared camera had been deployed, and a citizen reported he had seen a "suspicious male" running from the area wearing only one shoe. Several hours later, the suspicious male was eventually found on his way out of the area in a cab, which he had called from the home of a local resident.

I'm sure it wasn't that comical at the time, but something about this kind of story just makes it impossible for me not to visualize it with everybody running at double speed with "Yakety Sax" playing in the background. See also "Robber in Gorilla Suit Foiled by Worker With Meat Cleaver," Lowering the Bar (Aug. 4, 2009).