Police are looking for a man who escaped custody in a medical gown and handcuffs in Adelaide’s western suburbs, warning the public not to approach the man.
Officers first tried to pull over the man, who was riding a bicycle without a helmet, on Tapley’s Hill Road at Glenelg North in the south-western suburbs about 11:20am on Thursday, but he allegedly refused to stop.
He was last spotted entering a property on Inverarity Place, where he allegedly raised a hammer in a threatening manner before charging at officers and attempting to strike them.
“He was directed numerous times to drop the hammer. He refused to do so,” Acting Assistant Police Commissioner John DeCandia said.
Police used pepper spray to restrain and arrest the 36-year-old man from Sturt.
“During that, he attempted to swing at police with the hammer, fortunately he did not strike any of the police officers,” Assistant Commissioner DeCandia said.
They searched and allegedly found a taser inside the man’s backpack, which was seized alongside the hammer.
The man was charged with assaulting a prescribed emergency worker, carrying an offensive weapon, carrying a prohibited weapon, and resisting police.
The man allegedly ran from police in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital car park on Thursday night. (ABC News: Josephine Lim)
He was due to appear in court on Friday but he allegedly fled while in custody upon leaving the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after a medical assessment on Thursday night.
Police alleged that about 9:30pm on Thursday, the man was being placed into a police vehicle when he escaped and ran off.
“He was being conveyed back to the Port Adelaide police station,” Assistant Commissioner DeCandia said.
“At that time he was handcuffed to the front and he was placed in the rear of a police cage vehicle.
“As the police were driving out of the Queen Elizabeth complex area onto Woodville Road they could hear what seemed to be a loud bang.”
He said the police could see from their CCTV monitoring that the rear cage door had been opened and the man had escaped.
They immediately started a search for the man in the western suburbs with the police helicopter and Dog Operations but he could not be found.
Police said “a significant search” would continue on Friday.
Assistant Commissioner DeCandia said the man was believed to be handcuffed.
“If he’s watching — you know, we’ve got the key,” he said.
They said a member of the public reported seeing a man fitting the description at Seaton in the western suburbs at 1:45am on Friday but police could not locate him.
In a previous statement, police said the man’s “current whereabouts are unknown”.
Police are searching Adelaide’s western suburbs for a man who escaped their custody. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The man is described as being of Aboriginal appearance, approximately 170 centimetres tall, weighing 60 kilograms, with short black hair and stubble facial hair.
He was last seen wearing a blue medical gown.
Police warn the public not to approach him but to report any sightings immediately.
They said anyone assisting the man to hide or evade police may also be committing an offence.
Police urge anyone who sees the man or witnessed him near the hospital on Thursday night to contact them immediately on 131 444 or Triple Zero (000).
Assistant Commissioner DeCandia said there would be an internal investigation into how and why the latch on the rear cage did not remain locked.
He added that the initial assessment showed the mechanism appeared to be working and it may have simply not been latched securely.