Serial prison escapee flees from hospital security officers
Perth AU Sept 26 2019 A Perth man who triggered a four-day manhunt after fleeing from hospital and escaping custody has been recaptured in a dramatic arrest in the city’s north-east suburbs.
Laurie John Junior Dodd, 44, escaped from Royal Perth Hospital on Saturday afternoon when he apparently enticed a guard over to his bedside and put him in a headlock, then stole his keys.
The escape sparked an air and ground search around the city and prompted a $100,000 fine for the security contractor tasked with guarding Dodd, a day after they were blasted by the state’s Corrective Services Minister, Fran Logan.
Police said Dodd was tasered and taken into custody after an incident near the Morley Galleria shopping complex on Wednesday morning.
He accompanied by his 44-year-old partner, Cher Blight, who has been charged with aiding an escapee.
“We were made aware of a vehicle that potentially had both Mr Dodd and Ms Blight as occupants of that vehicle,” WA Police Detective Sergeant Mat Atkinson said.
“He tried to evade us in a vehicle, he was unsuccessful … he tried to run away and he was apprehended by police after a short foot pursuit.”
Dodd has been charged with a string of offences, including escaping lawful custody and assaulting a public officer, and is due to appear in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Detective Sergeant Atkinson said Dodd also had links to the Mongols outlaw motorcycle club and police believed the couple had been assisted by others.
“I think it’s clear that Mr Dodd presented a risk to the community and I think it’s a tremendous result … that he’s back in custody,” he said.
Witness Dan Andrews said there was a high-speed chase near the shopping centre before police captured Dodd.
“He got out and ran over to Coventry Village, just behind the Dan Murphy’s there, and that’s when about 10 to 15 police officers jumped on him and got him,” he said.
“From when he came flying past the speed hump to when he was in handcuffs, it was no more than 30 seconds. It all happened very, very quickly.”
Dodd was initially arrested on Thursday last week after allegedly leading police on a chase through suburban Perth in a stolen car.
The chase ended in Bayswater, where police said Dodd violently struggled with police officers and punched a police dog.
Dodd was then bitten by the dog and he was taken to Royal Perth Hospital for treatment.
Two security officers were assigned to guard Dodd at the hospital, but when one left the room to get lunch, he allegedly managed to get the other guard in a chokehold and stole his keys.
Mr Logan said this was apparently made possible because Broadspectrum had not followed the policy in place at Corrective Services — a part the Department of Justice — which requires a prisoner to be held in both handcuffs and a security chain.
He said Dodd was believed to have been chained around his waist and legs to the hospital bed, but was not handcuffed.
Mr Logan said Broadspectrum would be fined $103,840 for “significant failures” in their handling of Dodd.
“The Broadspectrum officers were advised by the department of the prisoner’s previous escape history and that he should be wearing handcuffs,” he said.
“Further to this, the contractor has not met its own policies when it came to the management of the prisoner, which should have included applying further restraints when an officer is alone with a prisoner.
“However, the Department of Justice should have taken into account the nature of the remand prisoner’s arrest and violent behaviour when determining his level of risk.
“The department has now introduced an improved oversight regime for hospital visits, which include compliance checks at regular and random intervals by various levels of senior staff.”
Mr Logan said all outlaw motorcycle group members in custody would also be considered “high-security escorts” from now on.
In 1999 he broke out of Broome Regional Prison and in 2004 he was part of a mass break-out of dangerous offenders from the WA Supreme Court.
At the time, the then-justice minister Michelle Roberts said three guards from contracting firm AIMS were overpowered by a group of prisoners being transferred from a van to a holding centre at the court.
In total, nine prisoners managed to get away, but all were later recaptured.
Dodd spent a significant period in jail following his re-arrest, but Mr Logan said his security status had been reclassified in 2013 while he was still behind bars.
He was released in 2018.
“Between 2013 and 2018 when he left the prison system, he apparently had no problems whatsoever,” Mr Logan said.
“However, that [security status] was still on his prison movement system when he was taken back into custody.”
