One man is under arrest with more charges on the way, after a thief or thieves snatched a Bethel police vehicle and took it for a joy ride along the frozen Kuskokwim River on Tuesday night.

Bethel might not seem like the best place to steal a car: No highways lead out of the city. But this time of year the river serves as a road, which is where a policeman in a nearby village saw the stolen Ford Expedition hurtling down the ice, red and blue emergency lights flashing and siren blaring.

Sometimes it was spinning doughnuts, the man told the Tundra Drums. At one point police heard rapid gunshots -- presumably somebody blasting rounds from a semi-automatic police rifle thieves found in the squad car.

The ruckus prompted one village to lock down its school, where youngsters were practicing basketball.

By Wednesday afternoon police had arrested 24-year-old Charles Chaney Jr. for vehicle theft. More charges against Chaney and three possible accomplices are pending, said Bethel Police Chief Larry Elarton.

The chase began at about 6 p.m. Tuesday in Bethel. Officer Jerry Herrod -- a 27-year-old fishing guide who joined the force more than a year ago -- left his vehicle to interview someone on Seventh Avenue.

Herrod was away from his rig for about five minutes, Elarton said. He left the keys inside and is not sure if he locked the door, said the chief.

The Ford SUV has been to the shop more than once for problems with the locks, say police.

When Herrod came back, the Ford was gone.

Village Public Safety Officer Greg Larson, who works with troopers in Napaskiak, said he was at the airport when Bethel police called him on his cell phone and told him to watch out for the stolen vehicle.

He immediately heard more than 15 rapid gunshots from the river and hurried to the banks. When he arrived, he saw the vehicle speeding a good distance away, heading downriver toward Napakiak, the next village south.

It appeared to have at least two people inside, he said. A four-wheeler was driving alongside.

Larson heard lots of hollering, he said.

A village of about 400 people, Napaskiak is roughly 7 miles south of Bethel. There, state trooper pilot Earl Samuelson learned of the stolen SUV and began flying above the river in his Cessna 185.

At one point he saw flashing police lights that disappeared before he could pinpoint the Ford, police say.

At the Napaskiak gymnasium, coaches kept players in the school until about 8 p.m., when it was considered safe to leave, said basketball coach Joe Bavilla.

Back in Bethel, every available police officer was helping with the search. Two jumped on snowmachines to chase the stolen Ford. The police chief and his lieutenant grabbed an unmarked pickup, the lightest police vehicle they could find, and drove onto the ice.

The trooper pilot warned pursuers of patches of open water.

Elarton and the snowmachine-riding officers never caught up to the stolen vehicle. The river was extremely dark and dangerous to drive on, the chief said.

Meanwhile, Chaney appeared farther south. A village police officer in Napakiak encountered him and another man on a four-wheeler. They carried a police radar gun.

Chaney -- who was out on bail for an unrelated assault charge -- wanted to know if he was being arrested, Elarton said.

The police officer, Arthur Dull, said no, but found out the men were headed back to Bethel and alerted police in the city.

Village police officers later found the abandoned Ford between Napakiak and Oscarville. Spent rifle casings littered the SUV.

At about 9 p.m., three hours after the car was stolen, police arrived at a Bethel apartment to find Chaney and three other people inside.

"The officer's police gloves were sitting in the kitchen," Elarton said.

Outside, the four-wheeler was still warm, with the radar gun attached to the front rack.

As of Wednesday afternoon, police still hadn't found the rifle.