You might say it started as a case of peddling without a license.

By episode’s end, though, a 24-year-old Vidor man had cycled his way into the slammer Sunday night.

Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll said in an issued statement that a Vidor patrol officer was cruising downtown Sunday night when he spotted an errant bicycle rider playing havoc with street traffic by peddling in the wrong direction on North Main Street. The cyclist had a right to the road, but not to his own set of rules, police say. Motor vehicle traffic was swerving to avoid him.

Things turned a sharper shade of crazy, though, when the cyclist, Corey Allen Ford, 24, saw the cop and cruiser. That’s when police said Ford sped faster, reversed direction and peddled behind a bank on Main Street’s 900 block. When the officer shouted for Ford to stop, the suspect instead dropped a bag of tools he was carrying and sped off toward the Cross Roads Shopping Center on the next block.

The officer activated his emergency lights and gave chase. The cyclist, intent on escape, rode between cars to avoid the officer. When the officer pulled alongside him, police said, the cyclist leaped from his bicycle, causing it to strike the patrol car, jumped to his feet and attempted to flee on foot. The officer used his Taser in taking the suspect into custody.

But the night was still young.

After the officer placed Ford in the back seat of the patrol vehicle, the suspect leaped from the vehicle and took off on foot. Ford was recaptured with a citizen’s help at the underpass of IH-10 and Main Street.

As the officer was walking Ford back to his patrol unit, Ford collapsed to the ground, police said. The officer loosened his grip to call for an ambulance, which is when Ford bounded back on his feet and — yet again — began to run.

A helpful citizen positioned his vehicle to block the suspect, who ran into the side of the vehicle. There, leg restraints were placed on the suspect, police said, and he was taken by ambulance to Baptist Hospital, then to the Orange County Jail.

Ford told police he tried to elude capture because he thought he had felony warrants and did not want to go back to prison.

Carroll said Ford had the following warrants:

• No driver’s license.

• Failure to maintain financial responsibility

• Evading detention/escape.

Ford remained in the Orange County jail Monday night with bond set at a total of $5,000 for evading arrest and escaping custody.