Drunk suspect gets in unmanned police cruiser, yaps on radio until arrested

By William Bender
The Philadelphia Daily News

GLENOLDEN, Pa. — George Arkins was practically asking to get arrested.

Over the police radio.

Inside a cop car.

Early yesterday morning, police were on foot investigating a small fire in Glenolden Park when they were jolted by an unknown voice on their radio.

Following a night of drinking at Dino's bar on MacDade Boulevard, Arkins, 44, was walking home when he decided to hop in an unmanned police cruiser and strike up a conversation on the radio, said Glenolden Police Chief Michael Donohue.

"Hello, hello, I'm inside a Glenolden police car with nobody around," Arkins said into the radio, according to the police report.

He proceeded to provide anyone who was listening with his name and address on Scott Avenue.

"This person, for whatever his reasons were, decided to get in the car and start yapping on the radio," Donohue said.

A police corporal and a radio dispatcher told Arkins to knock it off, "but the male voice continued talking over the police radio," the criminal complaint states.

When the officer returned to his car, sitting outside Glenolden Park, Arkins was waiting there with his hands up. Police found marijuana in his pocket, and a homemade pipe.

Arkins, who has a previous DUI conviction, was charged with drug and paraphernalia possession, disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.

"I don't know what he was thinking," Donohue said.