Police located Henry Eduardo Rodriguez riding a southbound CapMetro bus, according to court documents.
AUSTIN, Texas — Court documents obtained by KVUE reveal new details about how an inmate briefly escaped from a North Austin hospital before police took him back into custody.
Henry Eduardo Rodriguez, 43, was under supervision at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and required hospital monitoring for 12 hours before he could be formally discharged because drugs were in his system, the court documents state.
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The documents say an Austin Police Department (APD) officer had monitored Rodriguez, who was handcuffed to his hospital bed, for about seven hours and needed to remain with him for about five more hours.
Rodriguez allegedly told the officer he needed to use the bathroom, but the officer initially said he would have to wait until he was discharged. Rodriguez said he would “defecate himself” if he was not allowed to use the bathroom and told the officer he had been holding his bladder for seven hours, according to the documents.
After consulting hospital staff, the officer allowed Rodriguez to use the bathroom. The officer said he planned to handcuff Rodriguez to the front of the bathroom, but Rodriguez allegedly said he would not be able to wipe himself while handcuffed. The officer then unhandcuffed Rodriguez.
While in the bathroom, Rodriguez allegedly locked the door, broke through an air-conditioning ceiling panel, and climbed into the ceiling, court documents state. Rodriguez then allegedly entered a caseworker’s room through the ceiling, damaging the ceiling as he jumped down.
The officer said he knocked several times on the bathroom door before calling hospital security for help opening it. Once the door was opened, it became apparent Rodriguez had escaped through the ceiling, according to the documents.
About five minutes later, hospital staff told police that Rodriguez had broken through the ceiling in the caseworker’s room. Rodriguez allegedly told the caseworker, “I mess up,” before running into a hallway.
Surveillance footage showed Rodriguez leaving through a helipad door on the hospital’s east side. Police later took him into custody in North Central Austin after locating him riding a southbound CapMetro bus.
Rodriguez was arrested on charges of manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance involving cocaine, a first-degree felony; manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance involving methamphetamine, a second-degree felony; and delivery of marijuana, a state jail felony. He now also faces a charge of escape from custody, a third-degree felony.