Handcuffed suspect escapes from squad car

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- Authorities in Illinois and Missouri are searching for a suspect who led officers on a car chase after pulling his feet through his cuffed hands so he could drive a police car away.

Metro East Auto Theft Task Force director Gary Brewer says 21-year-old Derek Union was arrested in Alton Wednesday on suspicion of auto theft. He says Union was sitting in the back of an unmarked vehicle with his hands cuffed behind him when an officer walked away.

Brewer says the "small-framed" and "kind of wiry" Union contorted his body so his hands were in front of him and drove away.

Police chased Union into Missouri, where they found the vehicle abandoned in North St. Louis County. Brewer says Union was last seen running into a wooded area, still handcuffed.