THURSDAY MARCH 23, 2006 Last modified:
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 6:40 PM PST

Suspect escapes custody, recaptured

Daily News staff

BULLHEAD CITY - A man waiting to be booked at the Bullhead City police station found a creative way to temporarily escape custody Tuesday night.

An officer had arrested Rafael Lopez-Meza, 31, in the area of Swan Drive and Swan Cove at around 4:25 p.m. The officer recognized him from a previous arrest.

Lopez-Meza allegedly lied to the officer about his identity and was arrested for giving false information to a police officer, a class 1 misdemeanor, according to police public information officer Carrie Conner.

He was taken to the police station for booking, but the booking room was already full with suspects being processed, Conner said.

Lopez-Meza was placed in a holding area with metal gates, just outside the booking room with two other suspects. He was was wearing leg irons, according to Conner.

At approximately 5:26 p.m., one of the prisoners in the holding area reported that Lopez-Meza had been able to climb into a small hole in the ceiling. Police secured the immediate area, Conner said.

Lopez-Meza reportedly refused to obey verbal commands and officers eventually located him about five feet from where he entered the ceiling.

It took about an hour to extricate him, according to Conner. Lopez-Meza was charged with escape, a class 6 Felony, Conner said.

After several hours of investigation, officers learned that Lopez-Meza has used several aliases. He has an outstanding felony warrant for drug charges, according to Conner.

Officers have learned that Lopez-Meza is in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) has been notified. Lopez-Meza was taken to Mohave County Jail.

While the incident is unfortunate, Police Chief Rodney Head said he is pleased that neither the suspect nor police were injured in the escape.

A procedural change has been made to insure that a similar incident cannot occur, according to Head.


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