ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Police in Asheville have arrested a man in connection with the theft of a cruiser and a series of chases.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports (http://avlne.ws/1gx1Vo6) 24-year-old Benjamin Alexander Cator is facing 18 charges, among them larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon, assault on a law enforcement officer and assault with a deadly weapon on a government official. The charges were filed Thursday.

Cator is accused by police of stealing a patrol car, wrecking it, then stealing a pickup truck and ramming it into a second police vehicle. The incidents happened Tuesday night, and Cator escaped on foot after the second crash.

Cator was being held at the Buncombe County Detention Facility in lieu of $76,000 bond. It's not known if he has an attorney.

Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, http://www.citizen-times.com