Man Sentenced in “Bonnie and Clyde” Police Car Chase

One of the two lovers accused of stealing police cars during this year's "Bonnie and Clyde" crime spree was sentenced on Wednesday.

Blake Bills, 25, of Macungie was sentenced in Philadelphia to three to 10 years in prison for theft, fleeing a police officer and related charges.

The sentence will run concurrent to a 14-month to five-year sentence for a separate burglary he committed in Lehigh County.

Bills and his girlfriend Shayna Sykes, 23, are accused of stealing two police cars and leading police on a dramatic, high-speed chase that started in Camden, N.J. and ended across the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pa.

The crime spree started when Bills was bold enough, police say, to steal the first police car from right in front of Camden's Police Headquarters, where Officer Sekou Reid-Bey had pulled someone over during a traffic stop.

"As [the office] was interviewing the driver of that car, he heard his car door shut," said Camden Police Chief John S. Thomson, on March 4 when the Sykes-Bills crime spree took place.

Initially, Sykes and Bills were pursued by both the Camden and Pennsauken Police Departments. They had the advantage of listening to the police conversations over the radio inside the stolen cruiser. The couple headed down Admiral Wilson Boulevard at speeds reaching 100 mph, weaving through Camden and portions of Pennsauken. They then headed over the Ben Franklin Bridge crossing from South Jersey into Philadelphia, where Philly police picked up the chase.

Bills crashed the cruiser in North Philadelphia. While police were trying to apprehend him, Sykes took off in a Philly police cruiser. Police chased her into Northern Liberties where she was cornered and caught as she tried to run, barefoot, from the scene.

Bills and Sykes faced charges in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

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Both defendants confessed during the early stages of the investigation. They said they were drug addicts and that when Bills stole the first police car, he did it because the couple was just trying to stay warm.

Bills also pleaded guilty to burglary earlier this month.

Sykes was sentenced to three to eight years in prison.

Bills still faces trial in New Jersey and a possible longer sentence.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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