Alberto Morales Manhunt: Police may have made mistakes that allowed Texas prisoner to escape, report says
(CBS) GRAPEVINE, Texas - Florida police officers may have made mistakes that allowed a dangerous convict to escape in North Texas, CBS DFW reports.
Alberto Morales has been on the run for four days and Florida authorities now say the violent getaway was clearly well planned and executed, the station reports.
A heavily armed task force of Grapevine Police and U.S. Marshals canvassed a neighborhood not far from the Wal-Mart parking lot where Morales stabbed a Florida police detective before fleeing on foot.
It's now believed the serial rapist planed to disrupt a flight to Las Vegas for a court hearing so officers would have to take him by ground, according to CBS DFW.
On Wednesday, CBS DFW reported a security camera shows the officers spent more than an hour taking turns going back and forth into a Wal-Mart when the prisoner stabbed detective Jaime Pardinas repeatedly with a homemade knife.
The escape has reportedly drawn criticism.
A longtime fugitive task force member in Dallas, who wants to remain anonymous, told the station the officers did not appear prepared for transporting the prisoner by vehicle.
He says Grapevine Police should have been notified beforehand and used as backup.
He also says plastic handcuffs would have been more secure than shackles when the decision was made to put him in a car.
"We're going to complete overhaul of our policies to see what we can improve because obviously it wasn't the perfect policy because he got away right?," says Juan Perez, Miami-Dade Police Deputy Director, according to the station.