A wanted Missouri woman, who was locked in a patrol car with her hands bound behind her back, escaped police custody by letting herself free, according to court records.
Charley Michelle Blair, a 35-year-old Potosi woman wanted for forgery in Washington County, was apprehended Saturday by a Potosi police officer at a tobacco shop on the 400 block of East High Street.
After handcuffing Blair, the police officer had to carry her in the front seat of his patrol car because he was a K9 handler and didn’t have a prisoner transport cage. At Blair’s request, the officer locked her in the patrol car and left her to drop off her keys at the location where she had been arrested.
“When I returned to my patrol vehicle, the defendant had exited my patrol vehicle by opening the door from the inside, fleeing the scene,” the officer wrote.
Court records show that three Potosi police units and five Washington County Sheriff’s deputies spent around 30 minutes looking for Blair. During the search, police discovered that she was in the basement of a multi-unit residential structure.
“A search of the basement showed the basement door to be open but the defendant was not located in the basement,” court records said. “A continued search of the building was done with the defendant being located in a hallway in the upstairs of the building.”
Blair, who was discovered handcuffed, faces a burglary charge for unlawfully entering the residential premises as well as an escape from prison charge.
“Due to the defendant’s unlawful actions, City of Potosi residents and Washington County residents were inconvenienced with delayed response times due to the search for the defendant,” the arresting officer wrote.
