By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — An inmate who “faked” an injury to escape from a hospital ended up suffering a real injury when a police K-9 bit his arm and refused to let go, body camera footage shows.
The 29-year-old suspect was screaming for help when deputies arrested him Saturday, July 27, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reported in a news release.
“After a fall in the jail, he was transported to Advent Health (hospital) for treatment,” the sheriff’s office said. “Detectives determined that (he) had faked an injury in hopes that he could escape and return to Ohio, where he is originally from.”
Past addresses in Ohio for the suspect include Westerville and Columbus, officials said.
He was wearing green scrubs when he slipped past the deputy guarding him and fled on foot, officials said.
It took seven hours to track him down in the brush pile along Interstate 95 near Palm Coast, video shows. Palm Coast is about an 80-mile drive northeast from Orlando.
Video released by the sheriff’s office shows the suspect was practically invisible when the K-9 sniffed him out, bit down on his forearm and dragged him into the open.
A gas station attendant alerted deputies to the area, after the suspect entered the business and asked to use the phone, officials said.
“All he accomplished was to add additional arrests to his list of crimes and got bitten by our K-9,” the sheriff’s office said. “Fortunately, no one was hurt except this (suspect) who was crying after he was caught by our K-9.”
An investigation was launched “to determine how the deputy assigned to watch him was distracted.”
The suspect, who was living in Ormond Beach, Florida, had been in jail since July 3, after being arrested on a felony warrant for petit theft, violation of pretrial release, and two counts of counterfeiting documents, officials said.
His updated list of charges includes obstructing a law enforcement officer without violence, escape and battery on a law enforcement officer, officials said.
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