Inmate Flees Hospital, Kills Self in Stolen Car

An inmate facing a third-strike trial for burglary managed to grab a deputy’s gun in a struggle early Friday, shoot at the officer and lead police on a chase through Anaheim before fatally shooting himself, police said.

The 30-year-old inmate, Jake Glenn Bricks of Garden Grove, had earlier complained of pain after falling out of his bunk bed at the Theo Lacy Branch Jail, prompting the deputy to take him to Western Medical Center in Anaheim about 1 a.m.

After being treated, Bricks assaulted the deputy, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino. During the fight, the inmate, who was shackled at his ankles but not his wrists, allegedly wrested the gun away from the deputy and fired at him. Bricks also pointed the gun at a nurse, Amormino said.

As the deputy took cover in the hospital’s emergency room, the inmate jumped into a medical courier car and sped away, officials said.

Anaheim officers pursuing the suspect down Lincoln Avenue saw the muzzle flash from a gunshot inside the car, said Sgt. Joe Vargas. The car then swerved south across Lincoln, striking a parked car before stopping in a vacant lot, he said.

Officers yelled to the suspect but there was no response from the car; they found Bricks dead inside with a gunshot wound to his head. The chase covered about 1 1/2 miles.

“It could have ended much worse,” Vargas said. “He could have shot it out with the officers or injured someone else.”

The Anaheim Police Department, Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office are investigating the incident.

Amormino said the inmate was shackled only at his ankles because he had complained of dizziness, and the deputy feared that if Bricks fainted while his hands were cuffed, he would fall on his face. The inmate had also suffered cuts on his arm, another reason the deputy might have decided not to shackle him at the wrists, Amormino said.

Under Sheriff’s Department policy, it is up to deputies to determine whether shackles are used at both places, he added.

Western Medical Center in Anaheim is used by the Sheriff’s Department to treat inmates who need medical attention.

Vargas said escapes have been attempted before at the hospital, usually when an inmate is transferred from the emergency room to a patrol car.

“There have been escapes over the last years,” he said. “It does sporadically occur, but it’s not something that happens on a regular basis, and in most cases the suspects are quickly apprehended.”