A manhunt is underway for an aboriginal man who escaped from a police van after attacking officers who tried to arrest him for riding a bike without a helmet in Adelaide.
The man is described as aboriginal, approximately 170cm tall, 60kg with short black hair and stubble facial hair. He was last seen wearing a blue medical gown and was handcuffed at the front when he escaped.
Members of the public have warned not to approach him, but to report any sightings to police immediately.
South Australia Police said officers tried to stop the 36-year-old man, who is from Sturt, on Tapley’s Hill Road, Glenelg North, on Thursday morning when he fled into a property on Inverarity Place.
He then allegedly took out a hammer and charged at police, attempting to strike them, but was restrained after officers used capsicum spray. He was then allegedly found in possession of a Taser.
The man was charged with assaulting a prescribed emergency worker, carrying an offensive weapon, carrying a prohibited weapon, and resisting police, and taken by police to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a medical assessment.
At about 9.30pm he was put in the back of a police van but managed to escape and run off, evading capture despite police calling in PolAir and the dog squad.
A large-scale search then continued on Friday, but although there was a suspected sighting by a member of the public in Seaford he could not be located.
Police on Friday blamed a failure to lock the van properly for the escape, and said the man might be “laying low somewhere, possibly in someone’s back shed”.
“It appears the latch on the back of the cage may not have been latched securely,” Acting Assistant Commander John DeCandia said.
Anyone who is helping the man avoid arrest could face serious criminal charges, police said.
Header image: The wanted man (South Australia Police).
