Metro Police supervisors are reviewing how an officer handled the arrest of a burglary suspect who was able to steal the officer's vehicle patrol and lead police on a chase Wednesday, damaging several other patrol cars and several vehicles of passersby, a Metro official said.
The examination will look into Metro Officer Edward Schumacher's performance, said Metro Deputy Chief Mike Ault, who oversees the department's internal affairs division.
He said that the case was being handled by Schumacher's supervisors and had not been sent to the internal affairs section.
"The chain of command will investigate," said Ault, explaining that it is a matter of whether proper procedures rather than a question of whether there was any misconduct.
Schumacher could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Police said burglary suspect Robert Huck, 23, escaped from his restraints, stole Schumacher's patrol car and then led police on a chase that ended outside the Fashion Show mall on Spring Mountain Road.
At least three people were injured in the chase, including two officers, and multiple vehicles were damages.
The incident began about 11:15 a.m., when police stopped Huck and Elizabeth Mack, 23, who were in a 1994 Ford Explorer parked in front of a residence in the 6300 block of Tanzanite Avenue near Ann Road and Jones Boulevard, the police report stated.
Police checked Mack's identification and discovered that she had an outstanding bench warrant, the report stated. Backup was then called because of the warrant for Mack and "suspicious" materials seen in the Ford, including a laptop computer and DVD player partly covered by a blanket in the back seat of the vehicle, the report stated.
Schumacher arrived on the scene about 10 minutes later, and both Huck and Mack were arrested. Huck was arrested after a search found that he was an ex-felon who allegedly didn't register a new address and for allegedly allowing Mack to drive his vehicle even though she did not have a valid license, the report stated.
"I placed Huck in handcuffs, checked for tightness and double locked them," Schumacher wrote in his report.
It doesn't specify whether Huck's hands were cuffed behind his back. Ault said it is Metro policy to keep a suspect handcuffed from behind unless medical concerns dictate otherwise.
Both Huck and Mack were handcuffed and read their rights, then placed in separate patrol cars, the report stated.
Schumacher wrote in the report that he placed Huck in the rear passenger seat and seat-belted him in. But he also noted in the report that he did not put up the divider between the front and rear seats of the patrol car.
"I left the screen down between the front seat and the back seat due to the extreme heat of the day, at midday, in order for the arrestee to have airflow and not get overheated," Schumacher wrote.
Ault said there is no Metro policy on whether the screen on a Metro patrol car should be left up or down when a suspect is in the vehicle.
He said that department policies are written for issues that have department-wide consequences. Many different types of vehicles are used to transport prisoners, yet only patrol vehicles have screens, so there is no overall policy on them, he said.
While Mack and Huck were detained in the patrol cars, Schumacher and another officer conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. They found a container of Loritab pills with the name "Frank Villella" on it, Metro stated. The officers contacted Villella, who told them that he was the victim of an auto burglary, the report stated.
The police also found a slim jim car door opener and other tools commonly used in burglaries, the report stated.
While Schumacher was speaking to individuals on the telephone about 1:10 p.m., Huck "had slipped a handcuff and crawled through the screen, to the front of the patrol vehicle, placed the patrol vehicle in reverse and accelerated, taking my patrol vehicle," according to Schumacher's report.
Ault said officers have a primary responsibility to look after prisoners prior to their booking, but stopped short of saying that Schumacher should have done anything differently.
Schumacher's supervisors "have to look at the situation to determine if there was something done that should have been done," he said.
Huck reportedly ran into a block wall, then continued driving for about a quarter of a mile before the vehicle stopped, the report stated.
He then fled the vehicle, jumped over a wall and entered a residential area at Ann Road and Sligo Street, the report stated. Police searched for Huck for about 30 minutes before a "hysterical" woman ran out of a house on Camas Canyon Avenue, yelling that a man was in her garage and had stolen the keys to her vehicle, the report stated.
Huck allegedly took the woman's 1998 Chevy Astro van and drove "recklessly" eastbound on Camas Canyon, where he struck a patrol vehicle in order to escape, the report stated. A chase continued through the city.
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