SPRINGFIELD — A man who escaped out of the back of a patrol car Saturday night at the county jail while wearing handcuffs was captured by law enforcement Monday evening.
A number of individuals suspected to have helped him were also arrested.
At about 6:20 p.m. local police and the U.S. Marshall task force captured 27-year-old Ryan William Farmer at 207 Central Ave., a residential area in Springfield, according to police officials.
“A pile of arrests” were made at the scene of individuals who were suspected of aiding and abetting Farmer, said Panama City Police Department Maj. Mark Aviles. Their names and charges were not yet available as of 8 p.m. Monday.
Along with pending charges, Farmer will be charged with escaping and petit theft of PCPD handcuffs, Aviles said. He was wanted in two other states for burglary related charges.
Shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, Farmer had fled on foot in handcuffs out of a parked PCPD patrol car at the Bay County Jail, a PCPD report stated.
He escaped by “manipulating his body through a cracked rear window.”
“I entered into the warrants division with Farmer still confined in my patrol vehicle,” arresting officer George Thurman wrote in the report. “Upon return to my vehicle, I discovered that Farmer had escaped from the rear seat of my patrol vehicle …”
Wearing handcuffs, the five-foot eleven inch, 160 pound man, somehow put his body through the backseat cracked window and fled on foot.
“If policies and procedures would have been followed as they should’ve been, the escape wouldn’t have happened,” PCPD Maj. Mark Aviles said Monday.
He said Thurman has not received any disciplinary action and if the investigation uncovers a violation, “we’ll try to mitigate it so that it never happens again.”
Thurman had arrested Farmer shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday during a traffic stop at the 700 block of E. Ninth Street.
The stop resulted in a written warning for a defective tag light being issued to 26-year-old Bobby Lanier, the driver of the white 1991 Acura Integra.
Farmer was sitting in the front passenger seat and Kaylee Tuggle, 21, sat in the back.
Lanier and Tuggle were cleared of any warrants, “however, the front seat passenger Farmer, had possible warrants,” Thurman wrote in the report.
After Farmer gave his correct social security number, Thurman handcuffed him and transported him to jail.
An earlier version of this story is below:
PANAMA CITY — Police are still on the lookout for a man who escaped out of the back of a patrol car at the county jail while wearing handcuffs Saturday night.
Wanted in two states for burglary related charges, 27-year-old Ryan William Farmer fled on foot in handcuffs out of a Panama City Police patrol car shortly after 10 p.m., according to a PCPD report.
He escaped by “manipulating his body through a cracked rear window.”
“I entered into the warrants division with Farmer still confined in my patrol vehicle,” arresting officer George Thurman wrote in the report. “Upon return to my vehicle, I discovered that Farmer had escaped from the rear seat of my patrol vehicle …”
Wearing handcuffs, the five-foot eleven inch, 160 pound man, somehow put his body through the backseat cracked window and fled on foot.
PCPD, with help from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, have been unable to find the man, the report states.
“If policies and procedures would have been followed as they should’ve been, the escape wouldn’t have happened,” PCPD Maj. Mark Aviles said Monday.
He said Thurman has not received any disciplinary action and if the investigation uncovers a violation, “we’ll try to mitigate it so that it never happens again.”
Thurman had arrested Farmer shortly after 9 p.m. during a traffic stop at the 700 block of E. Ninth Street.
The stop resulted in a written warning for a defective tag light being issued to the driver of the white 1991 Acura Integra, Bobby Lanier, 26.
Farmer was sitting in the front passenger seat and Kaylee Tuggle, 21, sat in the back.
Lanier and Tuggle were cleared of any warrants, “however, the front seat passenger Farmer, had possible warrants,” Thurman wrote in the report.
After Farmer gave his correct social security number, Thurman handcuffed him and transported him to the Bay County Jail.
Aviles didn’t comment on Farmer’s escape, but stated a nationwide be-on-the-look-out has been issued and every local law enforcement agency is “going to be looking for him.”
Farmer is a white male about five feet eleven inches tall and 160 pounds with dark hair and hazel eyes.
He may be wearing handcuffs.
Anyone who spots him is asked to call 911. Do not approach or try to apprehend him, Aviles said.
Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.