The teen was found in Yonkers with the help of GPS and bloodhounds, police said. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Anton K. Nilsson

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — A teen from North Carolina stole an NYPD cruiser and took it for a 12-mile joyride after being pulled over for drunk driving, police said.

Dakota Locklear, 18, was arrested for drunk driving at a DWI checkpoint on West 158th Street and the Henry Hudson Parkway on Jan. 1 around 2 a.m., police said.

The teen, who also had a 13-year-old passenger in his 2008 Hyundai Sonata, had a blood alcohol level of .09, above the legal limit of .08, prosecutors said.

After the Lumberton, N.C., was handcuffed and placed in the back of an empty NYPD cruiser, he managed to climb into the driver’s seat and speed off, police said.

An NYPD spokeswoman said it is possible there was no partition in the police car, since Locklear had managed to climb over the seat.

Before he drove away in the cruiser, he reversed the car and hit one of the police officers at the scene, officials said. The officer was not badly injured.

Using bloodhounds and GPS tracking, Locklear was found about two hours later in Yonkers on Sawmill Road, which is located roughly 12 miles away, police said.

The cruiser suffered “substantial damage to the right and left side of the police vehicle,” prosecutors said.

Police did not have any information on the 13-year-old passenger who was riding with Locklear before the arrest.

Locklear was charged with third- and fourth-degree grand larceny, first-degree reckless endangerment, aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger, third-degree criminal mischief, second-degree escape, obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

He was arraigned Sunday afternoon, and bail was set at $25,000 cash and $50,000 bond, according to court records.

He is due back in court on Jan. 6.