Police say escape in patrol car foiled by flipping car in ditch
[San Antonio, TX]
by: Channel: Law Enforcement
Ihosvani Rodriguez
January 28, 2001, Sunday, Metro
Copyright 2001 San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express News
(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) -- Police said handcuffs didn't
stop a 23-year-old Harlingen man from trying to
make an escape in a patrol cruiser.
But a drainage ditch did, they said.
According to reports at around 4:30 a.m. Saturday,
police officer Christopher Martinez pulled over two
men in a GMC Jimmy near the 6900 block of Blanco Road.
Martinez conducted a roadside sobriety test on driver
Mike Sosa, 23, of Harlingen, who was then handcuffed
and placed in the back seat of the cruiser, police reported.
A second man riding with Sosa - Anthony Lopez, 22, of
San Antonio - also was arrested on two municipal warrants.
After placing both men in the patrol car, Martinez reportedly
walked to Sosa's truck to do a final check. That's when he
heard the engine of his cruiser rev up. Watching the cruiser
speed off through a parking lot, Martinez then gave chase
before hearing a loud crash.
Rounding the corner, he saw his car in a ditch, lying on
its right side.
Lopez, who had a severe cut on his head, crawled out of the
wrecked car, but rescue workers had to extract Sosa through
the front of the cruisers windshield.
Police allege that Sosa managed to slip his handcuffed hands
in front of him and somehow made his way to the front seat
of the police car.
When asked, Sosa told police he had fallen asleep in the back
seat, but woke up in the front as the police car was flipping.
Both Sosa and Lopez were taken to University Hospital, where they
were treated and released to authorities.
Sosa was transported to Bexar County Jail, where he was booked
on charges of driving while intoxicated, intoxication assault,
escape from a law enforcement officer and unauthorized use of a
vehicle. He was still being held at the jail in lieu of posting
a combined total of $43,200 in bonds.