Handcuffed Suspect Jumps Out Of Police Cruiser

DENVER (CBS4) - Denver police are trying to see if there was a mechanical problem with the lock on a patrol car door after a handcuffed suspect jumped out and tried to escape custody. He didn't make it far before police caught up with him.

The escape attempt came just two days after another suspect escaped from police and is still on the run. Police say the two incidents are very different.

A patrol car pulled into the District 3 police station with a suspect in the back seat Friday morning. As the officer was about to park the handcuffed suspect leaped from the car.

"I got one running from me. He slipped his cuffs to the front. I'm behind the station," the officer could be heard saying on the radio.

Police say the officer handcuffed Raymond Quintana with his hands behind his back. He was picked up for warrants for domestic violence and eluding police. Somehow Quintana shifted the cuffs under his legs and to his front and opened the door.

Police say Quintana never left the officer's sight and was back in custody after running behind the station to a drainage ditch next to the University Avenue onramp to Interstate 25.

Police view the escape attempt completely different from the escape of Eugene Martinez. Martinez was picked up Wednesday for failure to register as a sex offender and taken to the police administration building.

"Somehow while we were upstairs he was able to take off his cuffs and fled the building," Sonny Jackson with Denver police said.

Martinez has been on the run ever since.

Friday morning's incident only lasted seconds but officers were tested.

Quintana had reason to run. In addition to his warrants for domestic violence and eluding police officers found a gun on him. He'll likely face an additional charge of illegal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.