It was the best of cars to steal, it was the worst of cars to steal.

Jack Reacher, the former military investigator from Lee Child’s novels and the Amazon television series, has made a habit of commandeering law-enforcement vehicles when he needs to disappear in a hurry. A marked cruiser can buy a little authority, a little confusion, and a few precious minutes before anyone realizes the wrong person is behind the wheel.

Real sheriff’s cruisers, however, tend to be missed.

On the night of Sept. 22, a marked Broward Sheriff’s Office Dodge Charger disappeared from the agency’s Fort Lauderdale headquarters. Less than an hour later, Florida Highway Patrol troopers found it nearly 100 miles north, abandoned on an Interstate 95 exit ramp in St. Lucie County.

Deputy, Where’s My Car?

Embedded media follows; please allow a moment for it to load.

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said the search reached Gatlin Boulevard around 9:40 p.m. FHP located the Charger on the northbound exit ramp at mile marker 118.

Nearby, 42-year-old Shannon Marie Dillon was walking along the roadside in a green Broward Sheriff’s Office outer-carrier vest.

The bodycam begins with officers closing in, guns drawn, while a police dog barks in the background.

“Get down on the ground!”

Dillon drops onto her stomach and puts her hands behind her back. Within seconds, she is in handcuffs.

The vest was not the only piece of law-enforcement gear that made the trip north. A black duty bag contained two boxes of Winchester 5.56 ammunition, several identification documents belonging to another person, and personal items belonging to Dillon. A rifle remained in the patrol car.

In the left breast pocket of her coat was a glass pipe with white burnt residue. A field test returned positive for cocaine.

Dillon was not questioned about the theft at the scene. She volunteered her own explanation anyway, repeatedly saying she had “drove here in the police car,” the arrest affidavit states.

The Dodge had begun the night at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Building on West Broward Boulevard. Broward County Police Benevolent Association President Rod Skirvin told CBS Miami that some police vehicles have hidden safety switches designed to prevent unauthorized drive-offs.

This one did not.

Skirvin said the car reached about 100 mph on its way north. The trip ended without a reported crash or injury.

BSO opened an Internal Affairs investigation into how a marked patrol car left headquarters with someone else behind the wheel.

Not So Fast

Hours later, Dillon appeared remotely for first appearance.

Sitting before the judge, she shifted in her seat, smiled, interrupted, and answered questions that had not quite been finished. He finally stopped and told her to listen.

A public defender was appointed. The judge referenced numerous previous convictions and noted that Dillon was already on bond in Broward County.

When he asked if she wanted to say anything before bond was set, Dillon had an answer.

“Thank you very much,” she said. “I will not disappoint you.”

“I’m gonna dedicate the rest of my existence,” she continued, before moving into a difficult-to-follow statement about her parental rights and wanting papers drawn up.

Soon she was back to a more immediate concern: How much was the bond for driving with a suspended license?

The men seated around her kept stealing glances. One sat with his mouth open for several seconds as Dillon spoke.

Her total bond came to $107,500, while the resisting-without-violence charge was released on her own recognizance.

The filed St. Lucie charges include unlawful possession of identification, drug paraphernalia, possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon, driving while license suspended or revoked, and resisting an officer without violence.

This Wasn’t the First Car

On Oct. 30, 2024, someone stopped at a Gate gas station on A1A North in Ponte Vedra Beach and left a car unlocked with the key inside.

Dillon got in and drove away.

Before deputies caught up with her farther north on A1A, the stolen car left the roadway and struck a palm tree. She continued on without reporting the crash.

Dillon later pleaded no contest to grand theft of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage. The court withheld adjudication on the felony theft charge and gave her 24 months of reporting probation and 50 hours of community service.

By the following June, a probation violation had put her back before a judge. Probation was revoked, she was adjudicated guilty of felony motor-vehicle theft, and she received 90 days in county jail, with credit for 63 days already served.

All parties are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.