This sounds something like that scene from Animal House where D-Day steals a cop car and goes tearing off into the distance. But this story lacks the humorous value because it actually happened. We've seen increasing incidents where criminals and protesters (generally both) have shown a tremendous lack of respect for police officers and have even assaulted them in some cases. One crazed man in Los Angeles took things to the next level yesterday, however. He jumped into a parked police car and sped off while there was still a female officer inside the vehicle. She was ejected from the vehicle at some point and sustained what were thankfully non-life-threatening injuries, after which she was taken to a local hospital. (CBS News)

A Los Angeles Police Department officer was injured when she was ejected from inside of a cruiser that was stolen and crashed by a suspect near downtown LA early Sunday morning.

It happened at around 3:30 a.m. near 12th Street and Figueroa Street, according to an LAPD detective. They say that the officer, who was assigned to a security detail, was approached by the suspect who jumped into her cruiser and took off with her still inside.

At some point during the chaos, the officer was ejected from the vehicle, the detective said. She was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries and was said to be in stable condition at the latest.

The LAPD still hasn't released many details from this case, so a few things remain unclear. After ditching the officer, the suspect (who has still not been named) crashed the police car into two vans and then a light pole before getting out and attempting to flee on foot. He was apprehended shortly thereafter. One witness from the scene told CBS that the man's eyes were "lit up like he was on some drug" they had never seen.

Precisely what happened to the officer is also unknown and officials said they are reviewing security camera footage to learn more. One account claims that she was "ejected from the vehicle." But another officer wasn't sure if she had been holding on to the outside of the cruiser as it was driving away before rolling off. In any event, she's going to survive and the maniac is in custody, so it could have been much worse.

With all of that said, this is yet another example of the phenomenon that I mentioned above. I'm old enough to remember a time when people engaged in unlawful conduct would drop what they were doing when the police showed up and either flee or submit to questioning. Only the most hardened criminals would start some sort of altercation with them.

Those days are long since gone. People are going around and brazenly committing crimes right in front of the police, particularly during college demonstrations. The mass looting of shops takes place in broad daylight, even if there are police on the beat in the area. Particularly in places like California, the looters don't care because they know that even if they are caught they will be quickly released without penalty and they can go back and try again.

Now we've reached the point where some maniac is willing to jump into a police car with an officer inside of it and attempt to steal it. If the officer is injured in the process, that doesn't seem to be of any concern to them. This is going far beyond a simple lack of respect for law enforcement. It's open hostility and a willingness to engage them like a hostile, enemy force. Is it any wonder that we're having more and more trouble recruiting new police officers? The LAPD just missed its recruiting goals again and currently has the lowest number of officers seen in decades. It's difficult to blame them. Who would want the job under these conditions?