25-year-old Alonso Perez twisted his body and snapped the hinges off his handcuffs in order to escape a police interview room in Las Vegas

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Police video shows a Nevada homicide suspect handcuffed to a table in a police interview room twisting his body to muscle the hinge off handcuffs attaching his right wrist to one of the table’s metal bars.



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 1 September video, made public Wednesday, next shows Alonso Perez climbing onto a chair and into the ceiling to escape.

He was recaptured Tuesday after a four-day manhunt. A judge in North Las Vegas set his bail Thursday at more than $1.6m on 10 felony charges stemming from the escape and a 27 August 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.

The total bail amount was raised to more than $1.7m after a different judge in Las Vegas set bail for Alonso Perez at slightly more than $100,000 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 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 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.

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.