San Fernando Valley : Deputies’ Hail to the Cab

Who says a taxi never happens by when you most need one?

Just ask the two sheriff’s deputies in Palmdale who had their car stolen Sunday night by a woman they were questioning as part of a drug investigation.

According to the police report, the undercover deputies spotted the woman and her 12-year-old son about 11:30 p.m. The boy threw away a bandanna as the deputies approached, said Lt. Terry Lewis of the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station. That bandanna, Lewis said, contained several small pieces of rock cocaine.

“The juvenile was handcuffed and put in the back of the car,” Lewis said.

The deputies turned their attention to the woman but were distracted by a man who appeared on the scene, puffing on a marijuana cigarette.

And with their focus on the man, Lewis said, the mother, identified as Shaughna McGlockman, 30, hopped in the car, started the engine and took off with her son in the back seat, he said.

The deputies could only watch the lights of their unmarked car move into the distance.

But within about two minutes, they spotted a taxicab, flagged it down and told the driver to, um, follow that sheriff’s car.

Their car was found abandoned about a mile up the street, and McGlockman and her son were later found under a boat in a back yard, Lewis said.

McGlockman was booked at the Antelope Valley Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of grand theft auto and possession of narcotics for sale, officials said. Her son was released to the custody of the county Department of Children’s Services.

No word on the size of the tip.