Woman who stole Quincy Police car pleads guilty to three felonies, gets 15-year prison sentence

Watch Mercedes Patterson drive a stolen Hyundai, then steal a Quincy Police car and drive at speeds topping 100 miles per hour on the streets of Quincy, Ill., on Dec. 22, 2021. (Video courtesy of Quincy Police Department and Adams Co. State’s Attorney’s office)

QUINCY — A Quincy woman pled guilty Wednesday afternoon in Adams County Circuit Court to theft of more than $10,000, burglary without causing damage and aggravated fleeing to elude a peace officer in exchange for a 15-year sentence to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Mercedes Patterson, 25, entered her plea with her attorney, public defender Chris Pratt, in front of Judge Roger Thomson. 

Patterson faced seven counts in one case and five in a second case. Charges of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, criminal damage to state-supported property, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident with vehicle damage were dropped, as well as two counts of criminal damage to property, one count of burglary without causing damage and two counts of unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle.

Patterson received five-year sentences for the burglary without causing damage charge, a Class 3 felony, and for the aggravated fleeing to elude a peace officer, a Class 4 felony. Those sentences will be served concurrently. 

She also received a 10-year sentence for the theft of more than $10,000 charge, a Class 2 felony.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Department responded on Dec. 22, 2021, to a report of the theft of three trucks in the 2000 block of U.S. 61 in Houston Township, Adams County. Deputies found one of the stolen trucks abandoned in Camp Point at approximately 7 a.m. While the deputies were in Camp Point, they received an additional report of a stolen blue Hyundai car from a resident in Camp Point.

Deputies located the stolen Hyundai traveling east on U.S. 24 near Illinois Route 336 at approximately 8:30 a.m. An attempt was made conduct a traffic stop on the Hyundai, but the vehicle did not pull over and fled from the attempted stop at a high rate of speed.  Deputies maintained visual contact with the Hyundai as it drove toward the Quincy city limits. Officers with the Quincy Police Department then were notified of the situation.

The Hyundai was observed traveling west onto the Bayview Bridge. Missouri law enforcement was notified, and a short time later, the vehicle was in West Quincy, Mo. The Hyundai then fled from Missouri authorities and drove across the Memorial Bridge back into Illinois. Deputies with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department and officers with the Quincy Police Department saw the vehicle driving erratically at a high rate of speed as it entered the Quincy city limits.

A deputy with the Adams County Sheriff’s Department pursued the Hyundai as it drove south on Third Street — a one-way northbound street. The Hyundai eventually struck a parked truck at the intersection of Fourth and Spring, disabling the vehicle. The parked truck was pushed into another parked vehicle.

A Quincy Police officer left a squad car to attend to people at the scene. Patterson, the driver of the Hyundai, entered the squad car through the passenger door, then fled from the scene in the squad car. Assistant state’s attorney Todd Eyler said the stolen police car was travelling at 106 miles per hour as it headed north on Fourth Street, and Patterson blew through three stop signs.

Officers eventually discovered the squad car, wrecked and abandoned, in a backyard near the area of Third and Maple. Law enforcement authorities learned Patterson fled on foot from the crashed squad car to a residence at 209 Maple. She eventually was arrested after a four-hour standoff.