Cuffs switch take arrest to whole new level

By TIMES STAFF
Published June 17, 2007

DADE CITY - Disorderly intoxication is just a misdemeanor, and for a few minutes Friday night that's all Karen Jane Green had to worry about.

But when she somehow slipped out of handcuffs in the back of a Dade City police cruiser, authorities say, that's what really got her in trouble.

A police report said Green, 41, was repeatedly asked to leave the Quaker Bar downtown on Meridian Avenue. It was just 9:35 p.m., the report said, but Green already had "a strong odor" of an alcoholic beverage, was "disruptive towards patrons and employees" and refused to leave.

She was accused of disorderly intoxication and arrested. But in the back of the patrol car, the report said, Green somehow took off her handcuffs.

The officer spotted her. The report said she then put the handcuffs back on - in the front of her body.

That elevated her case to a charge of escape - a felony. She was still in the county jail on Saturday, held in lieu of $10, 250 bail -- $10, 000 for the escape charge.

[Last modified June 17, 2007, 07:14:03]