A shirtless Florida man managed to steal a Florida Highway Patrol trooper's cruiser and lead law enforcement officials on a 11-mile chase that reached speeds up to 149 MPH earlier this month, newly released dashcam video shows.
According to law enforcement officials in Florida, a FHP trooper was cruising up Florida's Turnpike near Okeechobee, Florida, when he saw the suspect, later identified as 22-year-old Shane Jensen, sitting in the shoulder of the northbound lane. The trooper pulled up to speak with the shirtless Jensen for a few minutes, believing the man to be "medically distressed" because the 22-year-old was "incoherent when the trooper began talking with him," FHP said in a release about the incident.
However, when the trooper turned to speak with a Florida Department of Transportation Road Ranger, investigators say Jensen saw his chance to take the trooper's 2013 Dodge Charger. Video footage of the incident showed the shirtless suspect jumping into the trooper's cruiser and driving off, even as the trooper yelled commands for him to stop.
Troopers set up a roadblock, causing traffic to slow until the suspect was caught up in the gridlock. Three officers approached the cruiser and attempted to open the passenger-side door on the vehicle to get inside and stop Jansen, but he was able to get away after accelerating through the road shoulder to escape, video from the scene shows.
When Jansen made it to the roadblock, he turned around and fled.
Dashcam footage of the chase showed Jansen speeding and weaving through traffic at speeds of up to 149 mph.
Eventually, the suspect drove over a spike strip, forcing him to come to a stop. Jansen exited the vehicle and attempted to flee officers by going into a wooded area through oncoming traffic. He didn't get far and officers arrested him in the wooded area.
Fortunately, o one was injured in the chase, officials said.