Patrick Weber, 32, was charged with shoplifting from a Jewel-Osco and escaping and battering a police officer. View Full Caption Google Earth; Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man arrested for shoplifting escaped custody by knocking down two police officers, running handcuffed to a nearby Best Buy and trying to get store employees to uncuff him, prosecutors said.

Patrick Weber, 32, had his hands cuffed in front of him as he went into the Best Buy at the Harlem-Irving Plaza at 4101 N. Harlem Ave in Norridge on Wednesday, prosecutors said.

An employee at the store said the handcuffed man used an unusual ruse to try to get himself uncuffed: He told Best Buy security he and his wife were using handcuffs while having sex and they lost the key.

Weber's story quickly unraveled, the employee said, and he ran off.

Security called 911, and Weber was arrested several blocks south, in the 3600 block of North Sayre Avenue.

Weber had been arrested earlier in the day for shoplifting at a Norwood Park Jewel-Osco, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said during a court appearance last week.

Weber is accused of stuffing $368.88 worth of merchandise, including baby formula and Crest whitestrips, into a book bag.

Two Chicago police officers handcuffed Weber and led him to the back seat of their car, Antonietti said. As one of the officers closed the car door, Weber slammed into it, sending the first officer flying into the second, she said.

Weber then ran handcuffed away from Jewel-Osco, 7342 W. Foster Ave., and was able to evade the police, Antonietti said.

By the time he walked into Best Buy, Antonietti said, Weber had managed to get the cuffs in front of his body. A store employee who didn't want to be named said Weber hid the cuffs under his sweatshirt as he asked security for a key.

Weber, of the 7400 block of West Howard Street in Edison Park, was charged with felony retail theft, escape from police and aggravated battery to a police officer.

In court Friday, Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered Weber held in lieu of $150,000 bail.

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