Police Detain Man Fleeing From Airport
A 21-year-old man being extradited to St. Louis on burglary charges briefly escaped from custody at John Wayne Airport but was caught when he apparently was hit by a car.
Fugitive Robert Shook bolted from two St. Louis detectives about 11:20 a.m. as the group stood at the TWA airline counter, said Lt. Ron Wilkerson, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Shook then raced through the airport parking garage, shimmied down a two-story concrete column to street level and crossed MacArthur Boulevard, Wilkerson said.
“His story is that he was then struck by a car, although there are no witnesses to that,” Wilkerson said.
Shook then ducked into a delicatessen in the 2300 block of DuPont Drive, where an employee called police to report a suspicious, injured man, Wilkerson said. Irvine police arrested Shook and took him to Irvine Medical Center for treatment of injured ribs, Wilkerson said.
More to Read
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
