The Porter County Sheriff's Department has released raw audio tapes between its officers and William Blankenship III, 22, of Knox.

The near one-hour-long conversation, transmitted over police scanners, began just two minutes after Blankenship stole a Kouts Ind. police cruiser around 5:30 p.m. CST last Tuesday.

Officer Roger Bowles of the Porter County Sheriff's Department led the effort, repeatedly attempting to talk Blankenship III down from fleeing. The suspect can be heard telling Bowles he is afraid of going to jail, which he feared would force him to forfeit custody of his infant son.

Blankenship III is later heard asking police for keys to unlock his handcuffs. He also inquired about the location of the cruiser’s cigarette lighter so he could have a smoke to relieve his stress.

Kouts’ police car, a 2010 Chevy Impala, was later retrieved Wednesday morning from an irrigation channel in Southern LaPorte County. By Friday, Blankenship III had turned himself in.

According to the Porter County Sheriff's Department, Blankenship III has been charged with one count of Auto Theft, Fleeing Law Enforcement, Criminal Mischief and Escape. The first three are Class C Felonies; while the Escape charge is a Class D Felony.

Kouts police now hope to add drug charges to that list, but fear their evidence may have been compromised when Blankenship III crashed their cruiser in the irrigation channel.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Blankenhip III remained behind bars at the Porter County Jail near Valparaiso.

Here is a partial transcript of Blankenship III and Officer Bowles conversation.

Officer Bowles: "William, this is the Porter County Sheriff's Department; you need to stop that vehicle immediately. Pull that vehicle over to the side of the road, stop immediately."

Blankenship III: "Yeah I'm going to have to say negative on that one. I've got a little boy at home, I ain't going to jail for some s*** that ain't mine."

Officer Bowles: "William we understand that, we can work through that."

Blankenship III: "Yeah I'm gonna have to say no on that one man."

Officer Bowles: "William, this thing is starting to get a little bit big here. We need to shut it down."

Blankenship III: "Don't worry I'm not going to hurt anybody else and I ain't going to hurt one of you guys, but I'm not going to jail. I'd rather be dead than go to jail, f*** that!”

Officer Bowles: "William give us the chance to work with you."

Blankenship III: "If you want to help me you can tell me where a spare set of handcuff keys are so I can actually hold the steering wheel right."

Officer Bowles: "Don't let this thing get escalated no more."

Blankenship III: "Man at least tell me where a cigarette lighter is in your car. I can think better if I've got a smoke man."

Officer Bowles: "William, give us a chance to work with you. All right?"

Blankenship III: "I'll think about it man. I don't know what the f*** I'm going to do here man, but I ain't going to jail for ten f****** years. For some f****** stuff that ain't mine, I ain't ever gonna see my son again. My wife's gonna leave me. I'd rather just run, this thing's got a whole tank of gas in it."

Officer Bowles: "What kind of stuff are we talking about that's not yours that's so important here?"

Blankenship III: "Don't know; I didn't get a chance to look at it. He just found it in my car."

Officer Bowles: "William are we talking about some drugs or something?"

Blankenship III: "That's what the officer said, narcotics."

Officer Bowles: "William that is really some minute stuff here. Okay? You're not going to go to prison over that kind of stuff."

Blankenship III: "Yeah I copy."

Officer Bowles: "How old is your son?"

Blankenship III: "He's just a couple months. He was only born this last month on the fourth."

Officer Bowles: "Congratulations, we want to make sure you see him again. That's the reason you need to stop that thing okay. Don't let this thing get escalated no more."

Blankenship III: "No, cause one way or the other I'm going to go to jail. I'm going to go to f****** jail for some s*** that ain't mine. No."

Officer Bowles: "Hey William I got some information for you there."

Blankenship III: "Yeah go ahead."

Officer Bowles: "There is no other handcuff keys in there to the best of my knowledge. All right? Cigarette lighter I think we took it out because we need the plug. All right?"

Officer Bowles: "Hey William can you talk to me?”

Officer Bowles: "William from the Porter County unit, hear me?”

Officer Bowles: "William I need you to talk to me!"

NewsCenter 16 has uploaded Porter County Dispatch's complete conversation with Blankenship III. To listen to that raw audio tape, just click on the video link above this story.