Letting the past haunt your department?

2002 - Publicized Escapes

• West Virginia                                December   2002
  A handcuffed man got out of a deputies car while the deputy was investigating reports the prisoner had vandalized a residence.
  Prevention - Step #1

• California                                      December   2002
  Deputies arrested two men for drug charges and outstanding warrants.   The men were handcuffed and placed in the back seat behind a transport cage.  While handcuffed in the back of a patrol car, the men shot a deputy and wounded a second deputy with a hidden gun, then drove off in his patrol car.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Maine                                            December  2002
  A prisoner who was being driven from a court appearance to the correctional center overpowered a sheriff's deputy, took his handgun, and stole his vehicle. The prisoner was shot in the abdomen after he crashed the cruiser and fired at pursuing officers.
  Prevention - Step #1

• South Carolina                              November   2002
  A handcuffed suspect was shot and killed by a deputy when he tried to escape.  The prisoner who was handcuffed behind his back, wiggled into the driver's seat of the police car, and tried to drive off.  Deputies were finishing paperwork on the hood of the car and didn't noticed the escape attempt. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• North Carolina                               November  2002
  Officers separated the two subjects by having one of the subjects sit in the patrol car.  During the stop officers  thought the subjects were giving false names.  As the officers were outside the patrol units, the subject in the patrol unit jumped into the driver's side of the patrol car and sped away.  Officers gave chase and found the wrecked patrol unit but the subject ran away.  The subjects had felony warrants.
  Prevention - Step #3

• Florida                                           November  2002
  A 15 year old boy that was handcuffed and in the rear of the patrol unit wiggled through the plastic partition and into the driver seat.  Police gave chase and the boy crashed into three vehicles.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Indiana                                          October  2002
  A handcuffed suspect managed to jump over the seat and sped away. Police were dealing with the tow truck driver.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Georgia                                         October  2002
  An unknown subject being transport to jail produced a gun and overtook the patrol unit. The unit was later found damaged.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Ohio                                              October  2002
  A woman who was handcuffed climbed over the front seat and sped away. The subject was found hiding nearby.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Arkansas                                       September  2002
  A man was handcuffed and seated in the back of a police car. The man somehow crawled into the front seat and stole the patrol unit and sped away. The subject was caught after crashing the unit.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Michigan                                       September  2002
  Police stopped a subject for an assault charge and was handcuffed then placed in the back of a patrol car. The subject got his handcuffs in front of his body, wriggled his way into the driver's seat, and drove away.  The patrol car was found two hours later.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Georgia                                         September  2002
  Authorities must fix the cage window latch inside over 60 new patrol cars because they have problems locking and protecting deputies from unruly suspects in the back seat.  The decision to fix the latches came after a deputy was nearly run over when a suspect crawled through the tiny cage window and stole the vehicle.  An examination of the new patrol cars shows the latches don't work very easily.  After jiggling and shaking it seven or eight times, it finally locked shut.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Kentucky                                       September   2002
  While investigating an accident a teenager stole the police car and while being chased, crashed the stolen car and taken into custody. 
  Prevention - Step #3

• Tennessee                                      September   2002
  Officers arrested a man and placed him in the patrol car first, and then on the tailgate of the prisoner's truck after he complained of illness.  The man slipped one hand from the handcuffs, bolted, and drove off in the patrol car.  He led police on a high-speed chase that ended on a bridge with the man climbing over the bridge's railing and threatened to jump.  Police negotiators persuaded the man to surrender. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• North Carolina                               September   2002
  While being transported back to jail following court, an inmate wriggled out of waist chains, reached through a plastic glass opening in the divider between the front and rear seats, and grabbed a deputy’s gun. The deputy and prisoner fought over the gun causing the deputy to crash the patrol unit into an embankment and the prisoner escaped on foot, but caught a short time later.
  Prevention - Step #1

• New Mexico                                   August   2002
  Accused of shoplifting; a lady was arrested, handcuffed, and placed in the back seat of the patrol car.  Officers left the lady to continue their investigation.  The lady got into the front seat of the car and drove off. She drove about three blocks before she jumped out of the car and was captured by officers who were pursuing on foot.  Disciplinary action is being taken against the officer whose vehicle was taken.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Colorado                                        August   2002
  A woman who was arrested and had her hands cuffed behind her back wiggled under the steering wheel of a sheriff's vehicle and sped away before crashing into an oncoming car.  The impact caused the police vehicle to roll three times, ejecting the prisoner driver in the process.
  Prevention - Step #1

• North Carolina                                August   2002
  A handcuffed suspect sped away in a patrol car leading deputies on a 40-minute chase.   The suspect crashed the patrol car into a tree.
  Prevention - Step #1

• North Carolina                                August  2002
  Police arrested a lady for failing to appear in court on drug and burglary charges.   An officer was taking her to the magistrate's office when she said she was sick and asked for the window to be rolled down.  The Officer had her hands in cuffs behind her back, but she managed to get her cuffed hands in front of her body. While the car was stopped at an intersection, she reached through the open window, opened the door, and jumped out of the car.  The lady doubled back, jumped into the police car, and took off.  She flipped the car four times into a wooded area. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• South Carolina                               July   2002
  An officer was transporting a prisoner back to jail following a bond hearing for drug and weapons charges.  The prisoner was handcuffed behind his back but managed to move his hands to the front, undo his seat belt, open the door, and jumped from the moving patrol vehicle which was traveling about 50 mph.  After a manhunt, officers captured the prisoner later that night. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• New York                                        July   2002
  While being transported for booking, the handcuffed subject kicked open the door of the police van open and escaped on foot.
  Prevention - Step #1

• New Mexico                                    July   2002
  A man arrested got to the front and stole a police car.  The police car was recovered within a few hours and the man was arrested a few days later.  Disciplinary action is being taken against the officer whose vehicle was taken.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Alaska                                             July   2002
  Officers responded to a complaint about a man smashing several windows out of a vehicle and found the subject bleeding from the arms walking along the street.  The officers arrested the subject, which also had two outstanding warrants, and placed him in the patrol unit.  While transporting the suspect to jail, the officer had to stop due to construction and the handcuffed subject crawled out the window and escape on foot.  A bystander and an officer struggled with the subject before finally restraining the subject.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Texas                                              July   2002
  A handcuffed man in the back of a police car squeezed through a window in the divider and tried to escape by driving away.  The suspect accidentally hit the siren button and gunned the patrol car.  The two officers fired several shots while the vehicle flew backwards into a ditch before becoming stuck. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• Wisconsin                                        July    2002
  While Deputies were transferring inmates to a different correction institute, inmates had been handcuffed to belly-chains and shackled with leg irons.  When the Deputy parked the van and opened the side door, an unshackled prisoner kicked her in the face and fled on foot.  Another prisoner also was out of his shackles and attempted to flee, but was quickly captured. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• Texas                                               June   2002
  After being placed under arrest by officers for violating a protective order, the man managed to escape by stealing the officer's patrol car while attempting to enter Mexico at an International Bridge.  The man struck a United States Customs officer with the stolen patrol car and the officer suffered serious bodily injury.  He was apprehended by Mexican authorities who turned him and the stolen police vehicle over to U.S. authorities.
  November 2003 - Injured U.S. Customs Officer filed suit against Del Rio, Texas.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Texas                                               June   2002
  A lady  was arrested and placed in the back of the police unit while the officer took witness statements.  The lady was able to maneuver her hands to the front of her body, jumped into the front seat, and drove off in the police unit.  She drove a couple blocks before she wrecked into a parked vehicle then attempted to flee on foot, but was captured. The owner of the parked vehicle was irate after the accident and wanted the city to pay for his damages to keep his insurance rate from going up. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• Minnesota                                        June   2002
  A handcuffed inmate being transported escaped through an open window of a deputy's car.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Pennsylvania                                   June   2002
  Officers arrested a man for drug charges, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back seat of a patrol unit.  While the officer's where searching the area for contraband, the suspect got into the front seat of the patrol unit and drove off.  The suspect abandoned the patrol unit and escaped into the woods on foot.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Mississippi                                        June  2002
  A man who was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car managed to get in the front seat and drive away while the officer was gathering more information.  Police found the patrol car later, but the suspect remained at large. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• Nebraska                                          June  2002
  Officers arrested a man, handcuffed him, and put him in the front seat of the cruiser, which is standard procedure.  As officers were searching the truck, the man was able to move those hands in front of him, get over to the driver's seat, and flee.  The vehicle was later found abandoned.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Pennsylvania                                    May   2002
  Two officers stopped to help a woman but they left her in their patrol car while they investigated a suspicious vehicle.  The woman then drove the police car away and it was not found until hours later with no damage.
  Prevention - Step #2

• New York                                          May   2002
  A prostitute slipped out of her handcuffs after she was arrested, stole a police van, and escaped to New Jersey.  She dumped the van and was re-arrested while walking barefoot along the road with a sack full of bullets, handcuffs, keys and other police equipment. 
  Prevention - Step #1

• Tennessee                                        April  2002
  A Deputy arrested man and placed the man in the back of his patrol car.  Still handcuffed, the man managed to, get up into the front seat, and put the car in gear going towards the officer. The officer returned fire and the subject crashed into a tree.
  Prevention - Step #1

• North Carolina                                   February   2002
  An officer responded to a call of a naked woman trying to get into a vehicle with outside temperatures in the 20s.  The officer located the woman and placed her in the back seat of his patrol car.  The officer was getting a blanket from the trunk, when the naked female squeezed through an opening in the plastic shield getting into the driver seat and drove away in the patrol car.  After a short pursuit the lady was stopped she backed into another patrol car. 
  Prevention - Step #2

• Georgia                                            February   2002
  Two teenagers were arrested for underage drinking, handcuffed behind their back, and placed in the back of the patrol car.  Officers then were struggling with one of the mothers when one of the teenagers was able to get his handcuffs to the front of him, then climb through the patrol car's open cage, and drive away.  The teenager lost control less than a half-mile away hitting a tree and the side of a building.  The other teenager suffered a broken jaw, lost about five teeth, and had medical bills over totaled $23,000.00.  She filed a lawsuit against the city government for unspecified damages.   Her lawyer said it is clear the officers were negligent in allowing the teenagers to be in an unattended police vehicle with the vehicle running and that officers should have known that the teenager was intoxicated and posed an obvious flight risk and danger to himself and others.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Oklahoma                                         January   2002
  Arrested for larceny, the man was handcuffed behind his back, placed in the front seat of the police car, and seatbelted in.  While the officer was returning some of the stolen property the suspect got his hands in front of him, unhook the seatbelt, and drove away.  The suspect ran at least three red traffic lights before crashing into four cars causing three occupants of the vehicles were taken to the hospital with injuries.
  Prevention - Step #1

• Florida                                              January   2002
  A deputy arrested a subject him and was transporting him to jail when the suspect kicked out a window and hurled himself out of the car.  The patrol unit was traveling about 60 miles per hour at the time.  The subject fled and is still at large.
  Prevention - Step #1

Preventative Steps
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