CAMPBELL — One suspected car thief was arrested Saturday and two others are still on the loose after the trio tried to avoid capture by crashing a stolen car into a police cruiser. Then one of them stole another patrol car and turned it into a getaway vehicle as a fire erupted.

After two of the suspects got away and a police officer was treated at a hospital for minor injuries, police found the stolen patrol car abandoned following a high-speed chase. Luckily, however, no weapons inside the vehicle were taken.

“It was obviously a very serious situation that unfolded really quickly with the ramming and the damage to the cars and the multiple chases going on at once,” said Campbell police Capt. Gary Berg. “I’m very thankful that the officer didn’t receive more serious injuries and we were able to recover the police car.”

Campbell police said it all started about 7:50 a.m. when officers arrived at a parking lot at 2875 S. Winchester Blvd. after receiving reports of multiple auto thefts. There, officers found San Jose residents Itse Yadira Murillo, 26; Christian Hernandez, 35; and Anthony Reyes, 22, and two stolen cars — a silver Acura MDX and a white Acura Integra.

When the suspects crashed the MDX into a police car, it caused the air bags to burst in both vehicles. And the hood of the MDX caught fire.

Hernandez and Reyes started to run away. One headed west through the parking lot, the other north on Winchester Boulevard toward Sunnyoaks Avenue.

But Murillo emerged out of the MDX and then got into a patrol car, which had the keys inside, after an officer took off after one of her two companions.

Another officer tried to stop her by reaching his hand into the car, but Murillo put the car in reverse in high speed, throwing the officer onto the ground, Berg said. The injured officer suffered head injuries and scratches.

Reyes, the one suspect who was caught, was booked on multiple charges, including assault with a deadly weapon on an officer and possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary and conspiracy.

Officers and firefighters from agencies in several cities — including San Jose, Los Gatos and Santa Clara –jumped in to help.

Police said they quickly pursued Murillo in the stolen patrol car but lost her at Lawrence Expressway and Prospect Road. Eventually, she just ditched the car, which was found at a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership at Parkmoor and Meridian avenues shortly before 10:30 a.m.

Ludy Ruiz, a cashier at the market at the Valero gas station near where the police car was stolen, said she looked out the window and saw officers with guns in their hands, yelling “Stop! Stop!”

Concerned about the safety of her customers, Ruiz didn’t know if she should lock the door. “I was very scared because I had one customer over here (inside) and the brother was outside pumping gas,” she said. “It was like a scary movie.”

She eventually opened the door to let the customer outside and then minutes later spotted smoke billowing in the air. Stepping outside to make sure her customers were OK, Ruiz whipped out her smartphone to snap pictures and video as the others watched.

All three suspects have prior criminal records, Berg said. Murillo is 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds, with multiple facial tattoos. Hernandez is 5-foot-8 and weighs approximately 170 pounds, police said.

A woman with the same name as Murillo and matching her age was arrested in 2008 for stealing a California Highway Patrol car in Sunol, an unincorporated area in Alameda County near Pleasanton, according to published reports. She was a passenger in a car the CHP chased from Fremont to Sunol, where she was handcuffed by an officer but swung her arms in front of her and took off in the CHP cruiser as the officer ran after her. She eventually flipped the car after a high-speed chase.

Berg said it appeared the three suspects in Saturday’s crimes all knew each other.

“Some of the evidence that we were able to locate on the scene are leading us to believe they were involved in several burglaries last night in the Los Gatos and Campbell area,” Berg said. “So it looks like they were on some kind of crime spree when our officers encountered them.”

Anyone with information regarding the investigation is asked to call the Campbell police’s 24-hour dispatch center at 408-866-2101 or the investigations unit at 408-871-5190. Those wishing to remain anonymous may contact Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867.

Contact Queenie Wong at qwong@mercurynews.com or 408-920-2706. Follow her at Twitter.com/QwongSJ. Contact David DeBolt at ddebolt@bayareanewsgroup.com or 510-208-6453. Follow him at Twitter.com/daviddebolt.