Brandon, MB - Handcuffed Intoxicated Suspect Steals Manitoba Police Car - 2nd Police Car Stolen This Month
Chris Kitching, Winnipeg Sun
May 31, 2010
For the second time in as many months, a suspect slipped his handcuffed hands
in front of his body and stole a police cruiser while in the custody of a
Manitoba police force.
The latest incident occurred while Brandon Police Service officers were dealing
with a disturbance in the western Manitoba city Saturday afternoon.
The small, flexible man, who was allegedly intoxicated, took the marked car on a
short joyride before he was arrested a second time.
It was a brief but potentially dangerous situation, said Brandon police
spokesman Const. Ron Burgess.
"Anyone who's in that state of mind to steal a police cruiser there's no telling
what they're capable of," Burgess said. "It's definitely rare. I can't think of
any other case (in Brandon)."
The man's initial arrest occurred when officers encountered him and a hysterical
woman at a home in the 1100 block of Sixth Street at 4:40 p.m.
He was arrested for failing to abstain from alcohol, a condition of his
probation order, police said.
The man was handcuffed, put in the back of a police car on the side of the road,
and left unattended while two officers spoke to the woman and attempted to calm
her down, police said.
While the officers were distracted, the man managed to get his hands, which were
behind his back, in front of his body and crawl through a narrow opening in a
plastic shield dividing the front and rear passenger compartments, Burgess said.
"You'd have to be small-statured (to crawl through)," he said.
In the front seat, the man damaged police property and drove off, clutching the
steering wheel with his cuffed hands, police said.
The keys were left in the car's iginition.
Burgess said the man was in possession of the cruiser for about two minutes and
was stopped without incident or further damage a few blocks away in the 1700
block of Aberdeen Avenue.
He was taken into custody again.
Police said a 21-year-old Brandon man was charged with breach of probation,
escaping lawful custody, theft over $5,000, impaired driving, driving with a
blood-alcohol level over .08, and driving while prohibited.
In April, a Winnipeg Police Service cruiser was stolen when a man performed a
similar escape.
The man slipped his handcuffed hands in front of his body, climbed between the
seats and began to drive off when an officer hopped in the passenger seat and
struggled for control of the wheel.
The police car travelled a few metres before crashing into a concrete wall. No
one was seriously injured.