Suspect Allegedly Steals O.C. Squad Car

A man suspected of drunk driving stole a squad car after wriggling through the plexiglass partition from the backseat, officials said.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies had stopped the 6-foot, 230-pound man early Sunday as he drove his Volkswagen Passat on the Santa Ana Freeway near Red Hill Avenue in Tustin.

The deputies placed Raymond Samuel Gurule, 40, in the squad car’s back seat about 1:15 a.m. while they searched his car.

After Gurule took the patrol car, he drove south on the freeway and exited at Tustin Ranch Road, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Ted Boyne. Authorities chased him in a Tustin police car, which had been called for backup when Gurule was first pulled over. He drove over a center divider, deflating one of the car’s tires, and ran away.

Officers from Irvine, Tustin, the Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol set up a perimeter near the Tustin Auto Mall and found Gurule within 15 minutes, hiding in bushes, Boyne said.

Police found two grams of methamphetamine, a stolen 9-millimeter handgun and a smoke-dispensing grenade, Boyne said. A bomb squad disposed of the grenade, a type mostly used by police for crowd control.

Gurule, who had been on parole for assaulting a police officer in Los Angeles County, is being held on $20,000 bail at Orange County Jail. He faces six felony charges, including stealing a law enforcement vehicle and possessing a stolen firearm.