Body cam shows officer arrested suspect who stole a Milwaukee police vehicle

Milwaukee police released dashcam and bodycam video from a December 2022 incident in which a man stole a Milwaukee police squad when an officer was conducting a traffic stop.

The accused, 34-year-old Daniel Barton, is charged with one count of "take and drive a vehicle without owner's consent."

According to the criminal complaint, a police officer was conducting a traffic stop near Holton and Keefe in Milwaukee shortly before 2 p.m. on Dec. 5, 2022.

The officer was speaking to the people in the stopped vehicle when he "observed his squad car drive off southbound on N. Holton St." the complaint says.

The officer radioed the squad was stolen -- and offered the direction the vehicle was last seen traveling.

A few minutes later, another officer spotted the stolen squad near Richards and Burleigh. A man jumped out of the squad and fled into an alley.

The complaint says when another officer arrived in the area, a citizen pointed at a Milwaukee garbage cart and stated, "he's in the garbage can." The defendant was located inside the garbage can with the lid over his head.

The complaint says a "review of the squad dashcam video allowed the viewer to hear the driver giggling as he drives off in the vehicle, and then you see the defendant exit the squad and run down the alley."

Barton was charged with a misdemeanor and released from custody pending a competency evaluation. A warrant was issued in February for missing a court date.