Tom Steele
The Dallas Morning News
ARLINGTON, Texas — A man released from custody for exactly two minutes couldn’t resist a car left unlocked and running outside Arlington police headquarters Thursday morning, authorities say. But his joyride didn’t last long.
Victor Angel Aguirre, 21, had been arrested in another city earlier in the week on a misdemeanor Arlington warrant accusing him of fighting in public, jail records show.
After he was released from the facility at 10:28 a.m. Thursday, he spotted an unattended car just outside the building’s doors, police say.
The car had been parked there about half an hour earlier by a woman who’d gone to the station to speak with an officer.
Surveillance footage shows Aguirre casing the vehicle, then circling back around it and getting in the unlocked driver’s door, police said. Then, at 10:30, he took off.
According to witnesses, the stolen car was traveling 100 mph and weaving in and out of traffic as the driver headed south on South Collins Street.
“It really gives new meaning to ‘drive it like you stole it,” said Lt. Christopher Cook, a police spokesman.
Police weren’t immediately aware that the vehicle had been stolen and were not in pursuit, Cook said. Officers didn’t realize until later, after the woman reported her car was missing and they checked the surveillance footage, that it had been taken from their parking lot by a man just out of jail.
At 10:38 a.m. — 10 minutes after Aguirre was released from custody and eight minutes after police say he got in the car — he lost control in the 2300 block of South Collins and the vehicle rolled several times.
The car was totaled, its roof sheared off.
Aguirre, who was severely injured, was lucky to survive the crash, Cook said. The Arlington resident remains at Medical City Arlington Hospital and is stable.
When he is discharged from the hospital, he’ll be charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and reckless driving, Cook said.
Aguirre has previously been convicted in Tarrant County of burglary of a vehicle, theft and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Police said the incident was unfortunate but a good reminder to always lock your doors and take your keys with you when you park. The car’s owner is not being cited for leaving the vehicle unattended, police said.
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