Officials are searching for a man accused of stealing a police car with a K9 inside and fleeing a traffic stop, prompting a shelter-in-place in a New Jersey neighborhood Wednesday night.
The ordeal began around 5:45 p.m. Wednesday in Paulsboro, New Jersey. Harrison Township police officers were in Paulsboro that day to assist the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office with a violence reduction initiative.
An employee at the nearby Jacob’s Pizza in Paulsboro told NBC10 she witnessed Harrison Township police pull over an unidentified man in a red car on North Commerce and Broad streets.
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“We watched everything,” the employee, who did not want to be identified, told NBC10. “He got pulled over. They took him out of the car. They were questioning him. You could see him going back and forth.”
The employee said at one point, a police officer took out a K9 to check on the car.
“Then they took the friend out of the car,” she said. “After they took the friend out of the car they took the K9 to check the car. The K9, you know, was jumping, trying to hop in the car. So they put the K9 back. They started checking the car and that’s when he decided to flee I guess.”
Investigators said the unidentified man hopped into the Harrison Township police vehicle and drove off with the K9, named Duncan, still inside.
“Three of the cops tried to stop the car,” the employee said. “Tried to open the door. But obviously he locked the door.”
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The man drove into the neighboring West Deptford before abandoning the police vehicle near the Westwood Golf Course on Kings Highway, according to investigators. Responding officers found the K9 unharmed inside the police vehicle but the man who initially stole it was nowhere to be found, investigators said.
The incident prompted police to request that residents in the Greenfields and Kings Highway sections of West Deptford shelter in place Wednesday night. The shelter-in-place was later lifted.
Police have not yet revealed why they initially pulled the driver over or if anything was recovered from his vehicle. They continue to search for him and said he was last seen wearing a black shirt and camouflage shorts.
If you have any information on the suspect's whereabouts, please call 911.