By George P. Hassett

A drunken, shirtless Somerville man stole a police cruiser and drove into a utility pole Aug. 17, according to police.

Marc McKenna, 24, of 14 Atherton St., stole Somerville police officer Derrick Dottin’s cruiser after Dottin offered him a ride home, police said. McKenna was stopped for being drunk at 5 p.m., he had his shirt tied around his head and was unsteady on his feet at Medford and Lowell streets, police said.

When Dottin drove McKenna home to 14 Atherton St., McKenna jumped out of the cruiser and started to bang on his front door, police said.

As Dottin tried to help McKenna enter his home, McKenna sat down inside a recycling bin, police said. Dottin went into the backyard “and that’s when I heard the door of the police cruiser close,” he wrote in his incident report.

“As I was coming up the driveway, I could see Marc McKenna driving away in the vehicle. I gave chase on foot, but lost sight of him as I turned right off of Atherton Street onto Central St, heading for Somerville Avenue,” Dottin wrote.

A driver from Cataldo Ambulance spotted a shirtless McKenna driving the cruiser around Belmont and Summer streets, police said.

Officers located the stolen cruiser parked and unoccupied at the corner of Beech and Atherton streets, police said. The left rear panel was dented, police said.

After discovering the car, police said they could hear McKenna screaming and hollering down the street – they found McKenna back at 14 Atherton St. pounding on his front door.

McKenna allegedly failed sobriety tests at the police station. He was arrested and charged with larceny of a motor vehicle, drunk driving and leaving the scene of property damage.