Marshal Captures Robber Fleeing From Jail Bus

An admitted robber slipped out of his handcuffs Monday, scaled a 12-foot-high fence at the Van Nuys court complex and tried to commandeer a car before he was apprehended and returned to custody a few minutes later, authorities said.

The escape occurred about 8 a.m. after the Sheriff’s Department bus that transports inmates from County Jail pulled into the court complex. Edward Lee Gandy, 24, who was scheduled to be sentenced in Superior Court for 12 robberies, ran from the bus and climbed over a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, authorities said.

“He was just running really fast and people don’t usually run that fast unless they’re running from something,” said Los Angeles County Deputy Marshal Gary Holland, who was about to buy a cup of coffee from a street-corner vendor when he spotted Gandy in his blue jail uniform, heading toward a parking lot across from the courthouse.

Holland, who had not yet reported for work, said he pursued Gandy for more than a block and watched him try to stop a car driven by a woman before Holland was able to wrestle the prisoner to the ground.

Gandy was taken to Valley Medical Center, where he was treated for cuts he received while climbing the fence. He then was released to the Sheriff’s Department and remains in County Jail. His sentencing was postponed until Thursday.

Gandy, a resident of Canoga Park, pleaded guilty in March to robbing 12 San Fernando Valley restaurants and supermarkets in a 13-day period last year. He faces up to 28 years and eight months in prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Michelle R. Rosenblatt. That includes an additional five years for a residential burglary conviction in 1983, Rosenblatt said.

Gandy also could face more prison time for the escape, authorities said.

Sheriff’s Deputy Van Mosley said Gandy apparently wriggled his hands out of the cuffs while he was still on the bus. “We do not know how he slipped the cuffs, but he managed to get his hands free,” Mosley said.