Teen Vandal Suspect Escapes

A teen-age suspect, booked on suspicion of vandalism, slipped out of his handcuffs, vaulted over a counter and escaped through the front door of the Lennox sheriff’s station about 7 p.m. Wednesday, deputies said.

Juveniles detained at the Lennox station are handcuffed to a chair in the lobby until they can be transferred to another facility. They cannot be housed with adults in the station’s cells, Lt. Anthony Denis said, and there is no other place to keep them. While in the lobby, juveniles are watched by a jailer, an assistant jailer and, from behind a two-way mirror, the watch commander.

At the time of the escape, however, the assistant jailer was counting prisoners in another section of the station while the jailer completed paper work in an office out of sight of the juvenile.

When the watch commander realized that the juvenile was escaping, he yelled, and deputies chased the youth but did not catch him.

The juvenile had been picked up three hours earlier after he was seen spray-painting the wall of a beauty salon in the 10500 block of South Normandie Avenue.