Dallas Officials Search For Inmate Who Escaped From Parkland Hospital
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A Dallas County Sheriff's Office prisoner has escaped from Parkland Hospital. Anna Marie Cardella was able to walk away from the facility just after 11:30 a.m.
Cardella had been remotely booked into the Dallas County Jail from Parkland on October 22. She faced several charges, including Driving With a Suspended License and Possession of a Controlled Substance.
Dallas County Sheriff's Office spokesman Raul Reyna said, "She had access to her street clothes, so I don't know if she was in her gown or in her street clothes, because since she never made it to the Dallas County Jail she never received an inmate jumpsuit or anything like that."
While Reyna said, "We're still trying to figure out exactly how she escaped from there," officials did release a photo of Cardella as she walked out of Parkland.
The 47-year-old was at the hospital for a non-specified medical condition. While an officer had been assigned to watch her, Cardella was in an isolation area, so the officer was not in the room.
Officials with the Parkland Health & Hospital System later released a statement saying -
"When a deputy is escorting a person who needs an airborne isolation room, that would not prevent the deputy from standing guard outside the room. The entrance to an airborne isolation room can be monitored from the hallway. Deputies are to maintain line-of-sight on the rooms containing their prisoners. Airborne isolation rooms are used for patients with any number of conditions or simply for testing. We are not at liberty to discuss a patient's medical condition."
Dallas County Sheriff's Deputies say they continue to search for Cardella and are following up on leads.
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