Man Steals Cruiser, Taunts Police Over Radio

[Onthemark]

A Springfield man was arrested early Thursday after he stole a police cruiser and took it for a joyride while taunting police over the radio after police responded to a disturbance between him and his girlfriend.

The incident unfolded around 4 a.m. when police responded to a report of a disturbance. They arrived to the home on Laurelton Street and were greeted by a woman who asked police to get her boyfriend to leave.

Police escorted twenty-seven year old Michael Kopeski from the house and had him wait outside. He then allegedly told the officers he wanted to go back inside the house to "get his stuff." When the officers told Kopeski that he could not go back inside, he became infuriated. He allegedly called the police officers "pigs" before spitting on their police cruiser and threatening to take it.

As Kopeski walked over to the driver's door, one of the police officers locked the door with a remote, however Kopeski was able to get inside the cruiser. He began to drive away from the police officers, but not before one of the officers was able was able to open the passenger door, discharging pepper spray into the car, according to authorities.

"The spray had no effect on the possessed driver," said Sgt. John Delaney.

Authorities say the officers radioed the last location where the police cruiser was going and during the next 20 minutes Kopeski used the police radio to taunt the officers and disrupt radio transmissions. Eventually other officers were able to locate and block the stolen cruiser from moving with their cruisers.

Police say the suspect allegedly refused to open the door and they were forced to break the passenger window in order to reach inside and shut the ignition off. Authorities say Kopeski did not cooperate and allegedly threw punches at the police officers. He fought with officer until they were able to place him into custody, injuring two of the police officers.

Kopeski was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for police, resisting arrest and four counts of assault and battery on a police officer. He pleaded not guilty to charges and remains jailed on $5,000 bond. His next court appearance in March 4 for a pre-trial hearing.

You can hear the radio transmissions between officers and suspect in the video below.

 

[donnalynn47]

I don't understand people like this. This man was acting as if this was all just a funny game to him. I bet he is going to wish he would just had left his girlfriends house when it all said in done. Now he is facing some serious charges for just acting like a fool.

 

[tanker]

How did the suspect manage to get into the car and drive it around ? Sounds like police negligence in my opinion. I think there is more to the story then meets the eye, the police locked the car, but somehow he got into the car ? Someone was not doing their job properly.

 

[jeremy2]

The man clearly had some issues.From the onset,he was uncooperative and used vulgar language against the officers.That he was able to carry on with his threat of driving away with the police car speaks volume of his mental state.Thank God no one was seriously injured during those few minutes of madness and that the police were able to apprehend him albeit with some resistance.

 

[westmixxin]

The fact that someone was bold enough to try this is what really surprises me to be honest I’ve never known an individual who want to get into a police car with a police officer inside of it.

 

[mairj23]

It's sad to say but These kinds of things happen everyday. With all of those charges, he should get plenty of time for what he did. The Law will make an example out of him as well. I wonder why the pepper spray had no effect on him? Anyway, just another idiot betting what he deserves.

 

[thegrey1]

The cop should have been more careful with this one! Luckily no one was injured by this idiot!. He's really fortunate the cops didn't shoot him when he was finally apprehended, and decided to attack the officers! Punks like this make me sick! I don't think we've heard the last of this little boy!

 

[mairj23]

Exactly, Idiots like this are dangerous and don't seem to have anything to lose. I hope they throw the book at him for his stupidity. Law Enforcement has been under fire lately but this one is justified.

 

[oraclemay]

This is a real crazy guy who is not going to listen no matter what. He should be locked up and they should throw away the key. If he gets out he is just going to cause more problems.

 

[Ladyofthelake]

The headline made it sound like something out of " Super Troopers" at first glance, and made me chuckle. Reading the story, however, did the opposite. I also agree that there was some negligence here on the part of the officers, because the guy should never have been able to get in the car in the first place, let alone have the keys to drive it away.

 

[thomas pendrake]

I would say he had reason to taunt the officers about their letting him steal their car. Perhaps they should have tried to accommodate him with regard to his possessions. I do applaud them for not killing the man. This type of situation is one that presents many dangers for officers (domestic disputes). At least the outcome got no worse than an embarrassment.

 

[Strykstar]

What a crazy situation, it's unacceptable that he was able to steal the car in the first place, but to taunt the police just shows how crazy the guy is.

 

[kuangcathleen]

First he commits a crime, and then he goes the extra mile to get into more trouble by stealing the cop car? Cop cars have GPS so they will find it eventually. Then he had the audacity to taunt the police over the radio. I hope the police say something to the judge so he gets a longer sentence.

 

[SF13]

This sounds like the guy played too much Grand Theft Auto. It was like he had given up on life and wanted to go out in a blaze of glory or something. Barring that, he just wanted to be a major douche.