The Osceola County Sheriff's Office is reevaluating the way it handles people under arrest, after deputies say one man broke out of a patrol car Monday and ran into a Florida Wawa where he crawled through a vent and crashed through the ceiling.
The suspect broke out of the car at the intersection of Bass Road and Highway 192, according to deputies.
Emilio Roman-Quinones, 28, was on the way to jail but ripped off the door handle of the patrol car and grabbed something inside the door that caused it to open, deputies said.
Deputies had picked him up for multiple outstanding warrants accusing him of grand theft.
But according to a report, he wasn't done racking up criminal charges.
"And then I (saw) all these cop cars just started going up this way. And then they came over here,” said witness Angel Rivera.
Rivera works across the street.
He said that by the time Roman-Quinones busted out of the patrol car, deputies were rushing toward the Wawa.
"I think they were just as shocked as I was. You know, like, this guy really just pulled something out of the rabbit hat like that,” said Rivera.
Investigators said Roman-Quinones had disappeared by the time they got inside.
They said he went into a bathroom stall and then climbed into a vent in the ceiling.
"I'm like, ‘How the heck did that happen? Like, with handcuffs?’" said Rivera.
Roman-Quinones was caught after the ceiling collapsed, and he allegedly fell and took out a water fountain on the way down.
The sheriff's office ended up realizing that all its Ford Explorers had the same flaw, which was exposed after several years of operation when Roman-Quinones escaped.
"We immediately took one of the Ford Explorers, took the door apart on it, did some testing and came up with a remedy for the situation,” said Lt. Ryan Berry, of the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the Explorers are in the process of being fixed, so no other suspects can make an unauthorized trip to the bathroom.
The deputy who was driving when Roman-Quinones escaped from the car is still on patrol and has not been disciplined.
The sheriff's office said it's looking into it.
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