A man in Utah with warrants out for his arrest is on the loose after fleeing a hospital August 19.
David Orosco Garcia was arrested following a police chase in greater Salt Lake City but escaped after being taken to St. Mark’s Hospital for treatment.
Garcia, who has multiple warrants out for his arrest, was reportedly breaking into cars when police arrested him following a foot chase. But Garcia was dropped off at a hospital after claiming he had recently swallowed heroin. By the time police returned around 5 p.m., Garcia had disappeared, according to good4utah.com.
Unified Police Department Lieutenant Lex Bell explained the series of events in a statement. “When [Unified police] took him to the hospital they released him from custody so that he could seek treatment and we then typically will ask the hospital when they are finished treating that person please give us a call and we’ll come back and we’ll pick him up,” said Lt. Bell.
The hospital released a statement explaining that “Per hospital policy, two police officers must remain with any patient who is brought to the hospital in police custody. When not in police custody, patients who are a risk of harm to themselves or others have clinical ‘sitters’ who remain with them at all times.”
After a hospital evaluation Garcia was not assigned a sitter and a lockdown was not initiated at the facility, according to fox13now.com.
Bell says Garcia is a known gang member, has an extensive criminal history and threw a gun out of a car window before police arrested him on the 19th, but that he does not consider Bell dangerous.
