A 42-year-old man is accused of getting behind the wheel of a Chicago Police squad car and driving away with it while wearing handcuffs on the West Side Friday afternoon, police said.



Marquette Fisher was driving a red 1989 Chevrolet Astro van when he was pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign about 12:45 p.m. Friday in the 4100 block of West Adams Street in the city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said.

After officers learned he’d been driving while on a suspended license, they placed handcuffs on him and sat him in a marked squad car. But as they began talking to passengers of the van he was driving, police saw Fisher jumping over the driver’s seat of the police car with his hands in front of him – still handcuffed, police said.

An officer tried to stop him by opening the driver’s side door but Fisher put the squad car into gear and began fleeing, police said.

He was followed by police who stopped him in 4300 block of West Gladys Avenue a few blocks away, but officers lost track of him after Fisher fled on foot. He was apprehended about five and a half hours later, at 6:20 p.m., at his home in the 1400 block of South Cicero Avenue, police said.

Fisher was charged with possession of a stolen law enforcement vehicle, aggravated fleeing and eluding, misdemeanor escape from a peace officer, obstructing identification, theft, and numerous traffic citations including driving while his license was suspended, according to police. Fisher was also wanted on two warrants.

Fisher remains under police guard at Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was taken after suffering a unknown ailment following his arrest, police said.

rsobol@tribune.com

Twitter:@RosemarySobol1