Woman Slips Cuffs, Steals Patrol Car

A woman sitting in the back of a Federal Way patrol car slipped out of the handcuffs, got in the front seat and sped off in the cruiser, police said.

Officers chased the woman south on Interstate 5 for 12 miles to a spot near the Washington 512 interchange where they stopped the car with a tire-puncturing device.

The 25-year-old woman from Goodhue, Minn., whose name was not released, was booked into the Regional Justice Center at Kent for investigation of theft, escape, eluding police and malicious mischief.

The incident began when police answered a domestic dispute call at a motel about 4 a.m. Saturday. A computer check showed a request from authorities in Redwing, Minn., to arrest the woman.

She was handcuffed and put in the cruiser while police checked out the request, police spokesman Bob Schubert said.

If she had waited just a few more minutes, she could have walked free, Schubert said. Police determined that the alleged offense in Minnesota was not something for which she could have been extradited.

The nature of the alleged offense was not immediately available.