10 Incredible GIFs of the Stolen Cop Car Chase

A routine stop in Camden led to the theft of two cop cars, and wild police chases from Camden to Philadelphia and local TV news helicopter footage of it all. Nothing’s touching this as local crime story of the year. “I never heard of anyone stealing two police cars in one incident,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross. Another Philadelphia first!

Cops say that Blake Bills, 24, and Shayna Sykes, 23, stole Camden police officer Sekou Reid-Bey’s cruiser while he made a traffic stop in downtown Camden. Police say the pair intentionally hit Reid-Bey, breaking his leg; the resulting chase reached 100 miles per hour through Camden and Pennsauken.

Predictably, local news stations are already running a photo of the pair where Sykes is wearing a bikini; the photo also made the cover of the Daily News. Jocelyn Kirsch redux! Wonder if we’ll never heard about the guy like whatshisname.

The Daily News‘ Stephanie Farr also shares this important detail that Bills “has an entire Facebook photo album devoted to the time that WMMR’s Preston & Steve radio show surprised him at his home in 2011 with a stripper wake-up call, apparently organized by his parents.”

The chase eventually went over the Ben Franklin Bridge and into North Philly, with the pair crashing at 7th and Norris. Officers arrested Bills. Sykes got away and stole a Philadelphia cop car.

Fox 29 got incredible video of the resulting chase in Philly; I encourage watching the entire riveting eight minutes. (There’s also a shorter version with fantastic Jeff Cole play-by-play.) If you’ve played a ton of Grand Theft Auto in your life like I have, you will be completely desensitized to it.

Let’s analyze some of the wildest parts of Sykes’ ridiculous flight from cops. I made GIFs!

Can you imagine how scary this would be? A police officer coming at you to make an arrest is one thing. A cop car barreling down on you and you start hoping there’s an afterlife. Hopefully that pedestrian is all right. This and Officer Reid-Bey’s broken leg are the only times it appears anyone was hit in this chase, thankfully.

You’ll note this part is on one of my favorite types of Philadelphia streets, the double-wide street with cars parked haphazardly all over.

Look how small this street is, and at two points it is four cars across. I have never done that even in Grand Theft Auto.

As Sykes swerves to avoid a police SUV, a pedestrian narrowly avoids being hit. Deputy commissioner Ross said the cops backed off during parts of the chase because Sykes was driving so dangerously.

Look at the truck move just out of the way to avoid being rear-ended, and then Sykes swerving and accelerating away from the police officer while running a red light. It’s the details that make this.

After so long without major damage to the car, Sykes finally loses control trying to avoid a police van. She hits three cars and almost gets caught by a police officer running out of the van; he makes a valiant try but she’s just too quick.

After that, Sykes kinda does this just to show off I think. Incidentally, both Sykes and Bills are facing DUI charges, among other things.

Sykes’ driving continues to get more erratic at this point. Earlier she was navigating the streets like she spent all her free time playing Gran Turismo. Now she’s ramming delivery trucks for no reason.

And then at this point the car catches fire.

After that its’ a few more minutes of driving until Sykes unceremoniously glides to a halt and gets tackled by Philly cops. Eh, that’s not so great, until …

Could this be any more perfect? The cops slam her against the trunk of the car she just stole as the camera zooms out. This could be the pilot for a new show about cops in Philly. Wild.