Prisoner slips away from RCMP
Man escapes handcuffs, back of patrol car in police parking lot; out for almost two hours
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, May 28, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Houdini-like escape had Yellowknife RCMP on the lookout for a remanded prisoner for almost two hours on Monday before they eventually got their man.
Sgt. Marc Coulombe, Yellowknife RCMP spokesperson, looks back through a 40-by-45-centimetre plexiglass opening, similar to the one a prisoner slid open and escaped through Monday. Police say David Maniyogina, 34, was at large for almost two hours before he was located by police in YK Centre mall. - Daniel Campbell/NNSL photo |
Police say David Maniyogina, 34, managed to undo his handcuffs, slide through a small plexiglass opening dividing the back of a patrol car from the front, and slip away - all in under five minutes time while parked outside the RCMP station downtown at about 12:20 p.m.
Sgt. Marc Coulombe, Yellowknife RCMP spokesperson, was not sure how Maniyogina got his handcuffs off in the first place, but theorized he may have used a seat belt buckle to push them open.
"This is something inmates seem to have a grasp on. They manipulate (handcuffs) to remove them," he said.
Handcuffs or no handcuffs, the back of the patrol car should have kept the prisoner in, and likely would have had the small plexiglass window between the front and back seats not been accidentally left unlatched.
Measuring only 40-by-45 centimeters wide, the window can be tough to fully close, Coulombe said, and the officer in this case had it unlatched. Coulombe added the detachment will be ensuring members remember to secure the latch in the future.
Maniyogina was being transported from Stanton Territorial Hospital - although police won't say why for confidentiality reasons - to the Yellowknife detachment after a court appearance that morning. The officer escorting the prisoner had left the vehicle briefly once arriving at the detachment parking lot. When he returned, Maniyogina was gone.
Maniyogina was on the lam for about an hour and 40 minutes, RCMP say. They found him in the YK Centre mall shortly after 2 p.m. Coulombe said he wasn't sure what Maniyogina did before being taken back into custody.
"The (arresting officer) said he was just standing there, so the (officer) walked up from behind and arrested him, without incident," said Coulombe.
About a dozen RCMP officers - some from headquarters in town - were involved in the search. Coulombe said he was typing up a news release to alert residents of the missing inmate when RCMP caught Maniyogina.
"Our plan was if he wasn't captured in a certain time, it was going out to the media," said Coulombe.
Maniyogina appeared in court again today on charges of assault, breach of probation, breach of a court order and causing a disturbance - all from earlier this month. He is now also charged with escaping lawful custody in relation to Monday's events.
In 2010, Yellowknife RCMP revised the way it transports prisoners to and from the courthouse, making it mandatory they be handcuffed and shackled with their handcuffs secured to a leather waist belt.
However, that policy has since been relaxed and Coulombe said Yellowknife RCMP now shackle prisoners on a case-by-case basis. He added officers won't usually shackle prisoners if they're taking them to a hospital appointment so doctors can more easily examine them.
