A suspect arrested in the Black Lake area on Monday, Oct. 5 for domestic violence used his handcuffs to hot-wire a window switch in a Thurston County Sheriff’s Office patrol car and escape.
The action prompted a multi-hour long manhunt in which the suspect broke into a house and stole tools and clothes, according to Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders.
The suspect was successfully re-arrested and booked into the Thurston County Jail for violation of a protection order, domestic-violence; residential burglary, domestic violence; second-degree malicious mischief and second-degree escape.
The suspect, whose name has not been released by law enforcement, was initially arrested for breaking into a home in the Black Lake area and violating a protection order, according to Sanders.
He had allegedly refused to come outside, but eventually surrendered and was placed under arrest in the back of a patrol car.
The patrol car happened to be an older vehicle in the fleet that was not equipped with window bars. Those became standard for newly-acquired Thurston County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars in 2023.
“While deputies were waiting on scene for the victim, the suspect swapped his handcuffs to the front, pried the interior door panel off, and used the metal handcuffs to short out the disabled window switch which rolled the window down,” Sanders said in a social media post on Monday, Oct. 5.
The suspect fled on foot while handcuffed, commencing a multi-hour long manhunt in which the suspect allegedly burglarized a second house, stealing tools and clothes.
Sanders stated that he responded to help deputies who were seeking additional resources to aid in the search.
No air support was available, and K9 Mac was starting to become fatigued and needed to swap out, according to Sanders.
A few minutes after Sanders arrived, a single gunshot was heard nearby.
Sanders located a homeowner who advised they fired a warning shot to get deputies’ attention before pointing them in the direction the suspect fled toward.
After a short track, K9 Mac located the suspect under a porch and apprehended him.
The suspect reportedly had a pair of pliers stuck to the handcuffs when he was re-captured.
“Never in my career have I ever heard of a suspect hot wiring a disabled window switch with their metal handcuffs,” Sanders wrote.
“However this is a great example as to why the decision was made in 2023 to invest money into our patrol car fleet. All of our patrol vehicles come with window bars now.”
