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Handcuffed man slips out patrol car

Pete Fowler
Glenwood Springs correspondent
Aspen, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS ” Scott Bradley Christenson didn’t want to get arrested.

While in handcuffs in the back of a patrol car, he wiggled his way into the front seat through a window in a Plexiglas separator, then out the vehicle’s front door, according to Glenwood Springs Police Chief Terry Wilson.

Christenson, 35, was arrested Friday afternoon on suspicion of second­degree assault, third-degree assault, resisting arrest and attempting to escape. But then he made his break for freedom.



“Usually we don’t engage in the practice of catch and release,” Wilson deadpanned. “We don’t believe in gold medal waters when it comes to these things.”

Chief Wilson said someone would have to be small, athletic and “highly motivated” to get through the patrol car’s sliding window while handcuffed.




Wilson said Christenson was placed in the back of a patrol vehicle and escaped while the officer went inside for a short time to speak with an alleged victim. The officer didn’t make sure the sliding win­dow was fully secured and Christenson “wormed” his way through the window in the separator between the front and back seats. Christenson was apprehended soon after escaping down the street where he was trying to hide on a porch, Wilson said.

“I have a feeling that that particular officer will always make sure the window is very well secured,” the chief added.

Wilson said the window is not very large and someone would have to be small, athletic and “highly motivated” to get through it while handcuffed.

Police made the arrest after responding to a domestic disturbance call at a resi­dence on the 700 block of Bennett Avenue. Someone reported hearing fight­ing and seeing Christenson dragging a woman down the sidewalk in a “head­lock,” Wilson said.

At an advisement hearing Monday, Christenson’s bond was set at $8,000. It wasn’t posted by Monday afternoon, according to the Garfield County Com­bined Courts office. Christenson awaits formal filing of charges on Nov. 14.