Police say that a drunk man stole an officer's patrol car overnight and crashed it in the woods in west Charlotte, North Carolina.
Investigators said the officer was off-duty at a night club when the theft happened and that the man ended up wrecking a cruiser.
As a tow truck pulled the police car from the woods from the side of the road, the front of the cruiser looked to be completely totaled from the wreck.
Investigators said an officer had just finished breaking up a fight and had gone back to working off-duty at the White House nightclub on Wilkinson Boulevard for their New Year's Eve party.
Around 2:30 a.m. police said a man stole the cruiser and nine minutes later wrecked it on Scott Futrell Drive near the Billy Graham Parkway.
The driver of the car has not been identified but officials said he was not seriously injured. The officer was not in the car at the time it was stolen.
It was not clear how the suspect got the keys.
The incident is under investigation and the man who stole the car has been taken into custody and will be facing charges.
