If you’re trying to escape from police, you might want to take a hint from allegations against Adam Segura: Don’t steal a police car, especially if you’re drunk.
Among other charges, Segura, 32, faces two counts of driving under the influence: once for allegedly driving his own car while drunk, the other for allegedly driving the police car while drunk.
Segura is accused of stealing a police car in an escape attempt Thursday, but he stopped after about a mile and was being held in the Weld County Jail on suspicion of 12 offenses:
• Aggravated motor vehicle theft.
• Escape.
• Vehicular eluding.
• Speeding.
• No proof of insurance.
• Resisting arrest.
• Obstruction of a police officer.
• Two counts of DUI. His breath test showed an alcohol measurement of 0.26 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving.
• Three counts of being a habitual traffic offender.
The incident began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when police Officer Craig Miller stopped Segura on a traffic violation.
Miller questioned Segura after clocking him at 62 mph in a 55 mph zone, according to an arrest affidavit. As the officer talked to Segura, he noticed signs of drinking: glassy eyes, an odor of alcohol on Segura’s breath and slurred speech.
“The defendant also admitted to officer Miller that he’d drank alcohol,” according to the affidavit. Miller then arrested Segura on a DUI charge.
Miller handcuffed Segura with his hands behind him, then buckled his seat belt in the back seat of the unmarked police car. While Miller and a backup officer talked to a woman in Segura’s car, Segura allegedly managed to get the handcuffs in front of him, released the seat belt and drove away in the police car.
Officers chased him for about a mile on U.S. 34, and he was stopped on 23rd Avenue, near the entrance of the Greeley Mall.
Miller stated the police car is worth more than $20,000 with an additional $10,000 in police equipment in the vehicle.
Greeley police spokesman Sgt. Joe Tymkowych said Friday the department is conducting a review of the case, and Miller may not have violated any police procedures.
Part of the problem is that there is no “cage” or barricade between the front and back seats in the unmarked traffic car.
