By Kayla Tucker
mlive.com
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — A woman who fled police custody this past weekend by sliding out of a cruiser window has been located by the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
The woman was being arrested Sunday, March 29, for violating her parole.
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She was handcuffed and secured in the back seat of a patrol vehicle.
While police were searching a vehicle, the handcuffed woman wriggled out of the backseat window.
“The window was halfway down, and she climbed out of it,” said Muskegon Heights Police Chief Maurice Sain.
The woman then ran down a street and disappeared out of view, according to a live video posted on Facebook by The Block Paper Weekly. The clip has gone viral online and attracted national attention to the small city.
The woman was found around 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 31, in an abandoned residence in the 100 block of Rotterdam in Muskegon Heights.
She has been lodged at the Muskegon County Jail on several charges.
Sain said Monday that the department would seek additional charges against the woman - including of fleeing a police officer and felony home invasion - in addition to the parole violation.
A resident reported around 7:30 p.m. Sunday that a break-in had occurred around 4:20 p.m. in the 3300 block of Peck Street.
The suspect in that incident was believed to be the same woman who fled from the patrol vehicle earlier in the day.
“Muskegon Heights PD would like to thank the citizen who called in and reported the female’s location,” a press release sent Tuesday stated.
The incident began around 3:30 p.m. Sunday when a Muskegon Heights police officer was patrolling in the area of Norton Avenue and Peck Street and observed a vehicle parked at an abandoned business, according to a March 30 press release from the department.
The social media video shows at least two Muskegon Heights police cruisers parked outside of the former Omni Fitness Club on Norton Avenue.
The officer approached the vehicle and made contact with two occupants. One of the occupants briefly exited the vehicle as the officer arrived but quickly re-entered upon noticing the officer’s presence.
Police were able to identify the driver but were not able to identify the woman passenger.
A second officer responded with a fingerprint scanner, which confirmed the woman’s identity, as well as a warrant for an outstanding parole violation.
The woman was handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol vehicle.
Police were searching the driver’s vehicle while the handcuffed woman wriggled out of the backseat window.
The woman then ran down a street and disappeared out of view.
Seconds later, a police officer walked over to the car and looked in the window where the woman no longer was.
Officers immediately responded and attempted to locate her, however she was not found, the press release stated.
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