An Easy Getaway, Even With Handcuffs

“I think you just lost one,” the passer-by told the startled desk officer at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division station.

The unidentified passer-by went on to explain that he had just seen “a man running down Highland Avenue with a pair of handcuffs on,” Lt. Otis Dobine said Tuesday.

The passer-by asked if the police were missing anyone, Dobine said. “Unfortunately, we were.”

According to Dobine, acting commander at the station, on Monday night two officers had stopped Mark Bridges, 24, for a traffic violation. “They determined that the guy had traffic warrants, and it appeared that the car (he was driving) was stolen,” he said.

Bridges was handcuffed, taken to the station at 4861 Venice Blvd. and seated on a bench “while the officers went out to conduct a more thorough investigation,” Dobine said. “Apparently they hadn’t secured him to the bench . . . the guy just sauntered out.”

Police, who have Bridges’ address, said they expect to rearrest him soon.