Yamhill sheriff critical of August escape
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:55 AM PDT
MCMINNVILLE (AP) — Sheriff Jack Crabtree has released a highly critical report on the Aug. 19 escape of a man who leaped from a wheelchair and fled while he was being escorted from the Yamhill County courthouse back to jail.
Crabtree said the possibility of an escape should have been anticipated, and policy and personnel changes have been made to prevent a reoccurrence.
‘‘We give no one the benefit of the doubt when he is a prisoner,’’ Crabtree told the News-Register newspaper. ‘‘We don’t assume he will do the right thing. We assume he will do the wrong thing.’’
Authorities say Andrew Webb faked a back injury to get the wheelchair he used to set up the escape.
According to the report, reserve officer Art Pohl wheeled Webb out of the courtroom in mid-afternoon, they got into an elevator and descended to the lobby. From there, the deputy wheeled Webb through a handicapped access door and down a handicapped access ramp on the Fifth Street side of the complex.
Webb slipped out of one of his jail-issued flip-flops. When Pohl reached down to retrieve it, the inmate leaped from the chair and took off.
Webb quickly outdistanced the office, despite being handcuffed, belly chained and barefoot.
In his radio call, Pohl said, ‘‘I have an inmate who is running. He just went running around the courthouse.’’ Because the call included nothing more specific than location, most initial responders headed the wrong way.
Webb stole a car and avoided capture for two days.
‘‘This boils down to, when the guy bolted, within 10 or 15 feet, he should have been taken down to the ground,’’ the sheriff said. ‘‘Then this never would have been an issue.
‘‘It would have been an attempted escape. The guy did something stupid by trying to run and he got tackled.’’
Capt. Ron Huber, the county’s jail commander, started an internal inquiry Sept. 2, and a set of recommendations aimed at preventing a future escape met with Crabtree’s approval.
The department plans to improve communication between jail and patrol officers.
In another change, at least one armed deputy will be assigned to wheelchair inmates and two will be assigned for those considered an escape risk. Inmates will also be placed in leg irons, even those in wheelchairs.
