SCHODACK — A 15-year-old North Greenbush boy is in jail on assorted criminal charges for absconding from the Schodack police and taking off in one of its cars, Schodack Police Chief Bernhard Peter said.

He said the teen, whose name is not being released because of his age, was at the police station Tuesday on Columbia Turnpike on suspicion of having a cellphone stolen from a Schodack woman.

The boy is also accused of driving a white Mitsubishi reported stolen from Albany to Schodack, to the meeting with the cellphone's owner. Separately, that investigation into the Mitsubishi is being handled by Albany and Schodack police and will likely mean more felonies against the boy, officials said.

In the Schodack case, he had called the woman and offered to sell her back the phone. Police advised the woman to arrange to meet him at Schodack Plaza where they nabbed the teen and brought him to the police station for questioning.

While there, sometime between noon and 12:15 p.m. the boy slipped out of an unsecured room used to keep youths while a lieutenant took a statement from the cellphone's owner about 20 feet away, said Peter. From there, he hopped into a white unmarked patrol vehicle parked in back of the station that was running, then sped off.

In his haste, he drove over an embankment and struck a mound of dirt causing a dent in the door and bumper, damage the chief estimated at upwards of $2,000.

He said that state law is specific about how police can detain teens being investigated for property crimes.

"For a non violent crime, we can't lock him in room or handcuff him or shackle him in any way because he is a juvenile and we don't want to upset his mental state," said Peter. 'We have to treat him with kid gloves and this is what happens."

Within 45 minutes, police were able to trace the boy to his mother's apartment complex in North Greenbush. She got in contact with him and he opened the door for police and was captured, added Peter. The damaged police cruiser was located a few blocks away on Snyders Lake Road.

For now, the teen is charged with grand larceny of a motor vehicle, criminal mischief to a vehicle and escape, said Peter.

"He's not going anywhere, he's anchored and he's shackled to the floor as nicely as we could," said the chief.

The chief joked that the teen apparently has a thing for white vehicles.

"Apparently he likes white cars because our car was white too," added Peter, who has been Schodack chief for 11 years and a lawman for 41 years. "These things happen, I see them all the time, it's just not very pleasant when it's your own."