By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The teen who escaped from the Wood County Juvenile Residential Center on Dunbridge Road, Wednesday evening, reportedly used a chair to break out the window of his cell, according to Bowling Green Deputy Police Chief Justin White.
Bowling Green Police Division received a 911 call from JRC at 9:31 p.m. An officer was already in the general area, and others joined to set up a perimeter. Bowling Green’s canine officer, Arci, picked up the juvenile’s trail outside the residential center window, and began tracking him north, White said.
As police headed north along Dunbridge Road with Arci leading the way, they found the teenager’s orange residential center flip flops. Soon after that, police received a phone call from a resident of the Copper Beach apartment complex, located at the corner of Dunbridge Road and Napoleon Road. The caller said the teen was trying to break into cars in the apartment complex parking lot.
Police found blood on a car door handle, then Arci continued to head north along Dunbridge Road.
At the same time, a police officer on the east side of Interstate 75 saw the 15-year-old escapee. The teen listened to police commands and was arrested at 10:22 p.m., White said.
The boy had cuts on his hands and was taken to the Wood County Hospital emergency department. After being treated, he was charged with escaping from the center, and returned to the facility, White said.
The teen’s original charge that landed him in the residential center was theft of a vehicle, White said.
The boy, from Henry County, was being held in the juvenile residential center, which holds minors facing felony level offenses from 10 area counties, according to Wood County Juvenile Court Judge Dave Woessner.
“It’s never occurred before,” Woessner said of an escape from the facility.
A detention hearing will be held this afternoon for the teen, the judge said.
