Inmate slips out of Metro custody

Jen Lawson

Thursday, May 20, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

A 32-year-old detention center inmate slipped out of Metro Police custody Wednesday morning while at the County Courthouse and tried to carjack a cab driver outside the Golden Nugget, authorities said.

Paul Anthony Morales was quickly apprehended by Metro officers and rebooked on escape and attempted robbery charges.

The incident happened about 8 a.m. Wednesday. Morales, a prisoner at the Clark County Detention Center, was handcuffed and shackled and put on a Metro van because he had a hearing in Henderson Justice Court in connection with robbery and burglary charges, Clark County court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer said.

The van made a stop at the courthouse so the inmates could be rounded up and sorted, Metro Police Lt. Wayne Peck of the department's field services section said.

Morales, who was chained to other inmates as well as handcuffed, managed to force his hands out of his cuffs while in the holding area, Peck said.

While being escorted from the back door of the holding area to the van, parked about 20 feet away at Bridger Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard, he bolted.

With a Metro officer chasing him, Morales ran a block and a half away to the Golden Nugget cab stand at Bridger Avenue and First Street. He dove through the window of a Henderson Cab and tried to push the driver out out, Peck said.

Police quickly apprehended him.

"It's an escape but we're (also) charging him with robbery because it appears he was trying to take the cab," Peck said.

The incident is under investigation. Officers are attempting to interview other inmates who were there when Morales got out of the handcuffs, but they're getting little cooperation.

The department transports more than 80,000 inmates a year and "we have very few problems like this," Peck said. "It's extraordinarily rare."

Morales was arrested April 13 on robbery, burglary and conspiracy charges in Henderson and robbery, burglary, drugs and weapons charges in Las Vegas, according to court records.