NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Police video shows a Nevada homicide suspect wearing a football jersey handcuffed to a table in a police interview room twisting his body to muscle the hinge of handcuffs attaching his right wrist to one of the table’s metal bars.
North Las Vegas Police Chief Alex Perez speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016, in North Las Vegas, Nev. Alonso Perez, a Nevada homicide suspect who became the focus of a four-day manhunt after breaking his handcuffs and escaping from a police interview room was recaptured in Las Vegas, less than a mile from where authorities found a work truck he’s believed to have stolen to get away, police said Wednesday. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Alonso Perez “torques it to the point, using some of his body weight, that it snaps the hinges,” said North Las Vegas Police Chief Alexander Perez, who is not related to the suspect.
Alonso Perez then sits down calmly with his wrist on the metal bar, where the police chief said he remained while a detective entered the room to check on him.
The Sept. 1 video made public Wednesday next shows Alonso Perez climbing onto a chair and into the ceiling to escape.
He was recaptured Tuesday, and a judge in North Las Vegas set his bail Thursday at more than $1.6 million on 10 felony charges stemming from the escape and an Aug. 27 shooting death outside a fast-food restaurant. Witnesses say the slaying followed an argument about the victim not holding a door open for a woman.
Another judge in Las Vegas set bail at slightly more than $100,000 for Alonso Perez on separate charges of assault with a weapon, shooting into a building and domestic battery from incidents in June and July, according to court records.
Defense attorney Julia Murray said Thursday that Perez plans to plead not guilty and probably will be unable to post bail.
Police Chief Alexander Perez told reporters Wednesday it was the first time in his 25-year police career that a suspect handcuffed inside a department office managed to break the cuffs and escape.
The suspect was still wearing ankle chains and the broken cuff on his right wrist when he dropped from the police station ceiling into a hallway, exited through a door and stole a work truck left idling in a nearby parking lot, the chief said.
The truck, emblazoned with a rental company name, was recovered a few hours later abandoned in a neighborhood several miles east of downtown Las Vegas.
Alonso Perez, 25, was re-arrested in an apartment late Tuesday not far from where the truck was found, the police chief said. He was no longer wearing the handcuff and the ankle chain.
In North Las Vegas, where the suspect is accused of killing Mohammed Robinson outside the restaurant, he also faces charges including shooting into a building, escape, auto theft, armed robbery and conspiracy.
Chief Alexander Perez said his department is conducting an internal investigation to uncover the mistakes that allowed the suspect to escape.
He said he has already mandated constant viewing of security camera video of people left alone in interview.
“Someone will monitor the video at all times,” he said.
The detectives who had planned to interview the suspect when he escaped last week are still working on the case, Chief Alexander Perez said.
The escape was the second reported this year from a police station in the Las Vegas area.
