ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Police were looking for stolen cars during a specialized detail Thursday night — and they found plenty of them. The problem is, most of the people driving them weren’t willing to stop.

Deputies said it was like the Wild West.

Almost as soon as the detail started, the chaos began. A number of drivers were unwilling to stop and led officers from the city, the sheriff’s office and a number of local departments on some wild chases. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured.

MCSO arrests 9 people, recovers 8 stolen cars in multi-agency stolen car detail Thursday night

Two of the chases were with teen drivers, all of whom have a previous criminal history. One was even still wearing an ankle monitor at the time.

The most dangerous was one with a suspect named Jonathon Rivera-Lopez. Police say they chased him for about 10 minutes through the city during which time he purposely drove his car into a police car, rammed other vehicles and ran up on sidewalks putting other people in danger.

This is the third time this year that Rivera-Lopez has been chased by police. He was wanted in Livingston and Monroe counties for not showing up to answer to previous charges. Friday morning, he was released without having to post bail after being arraigned.

“That’s somebody that’s now been chased by law enforcement three times this year, vehicle chases and every vehicle chase has a risk to everyone involved, the general public, Mr. Chase lost his life last week, but then to the officers involved and the suspects involved. It places everybody out on the road at risk. And this guy, for example, this is the third time in a year and he’s not on custody right now. So, for all we know, we’ll have the same chase tonight,” said Captain Greg Bello of the Rochester Police Department.

“Everyone we dealt with last night was a repeat offender,” Lt. Watson said. “There had to be some consequences down the line. At some point, things have got to change. We cannot keep doing what we are doing. It is the Wild West out there. There has to be some changes.”

News10NBC is still working to understand the legal side of all this, whether the judge had any discretion in letting Rivera-Lopez go without bail — especially considering he had warrants out for his arrest for not showing up to court on previous charges.

A.I. assisted with the formatting of this story. Click here to see how WHEC News 10 uses A.I.