Car 9663, where are you?

For about a half-hour yesterday, police were frantically relaying that query after a patrol car was stolen from a police officer.

Officer Vincent L. Biondo, 32, of the Southeastern District said that he left the car running when he stepped out about 1:30 a.m. to investigate an incident in front of an Eastern Avenue tavern, said Dennis S. Hill, a police spokesman.

The officer was asked to investigate a fight at another bar farther down the block. After taking care of that, Officer Biondo said, he looked down the street to discover that someone had made off with his patrol car.

The officer said that he immediately radioed in a report of the theft.

Another officer found the patrol car about a half-hour later on railroad tracks along Ralls Avenue near the Dundalk Marine Terminal. Police said the vehicle had at least one flat tire and damage to its undercarriage. It was towed into police headquarters for examination by crime lab technicians.

Whether anything was missing was unknown last night.

Officer Biondo told officers investigating the theft of his patrol vehicle that he left it unattended because of the "urgency" of the matters he was looking into.