Watch Handcuffed Suspect Dive Head First From Second-Story Window To Escape Police In Newly-Released Video
Last October, sheriff’s deputies in Rock County, Wisconsin, arrested 17-year-old Quantrell Dylan Schwartzlow on charges of second-degree sexual assault, strangulation, and suffocation, according to a report in The Gazette Extra newspaper. But when a detective brought the teen suspect into an interrogation room at the sheriff’s department headquarters, he got a shocking surprise.
The interrogation room was located on the building’s second floor, about 16-feet off the ground, allowing the detective to step out of the room for about 15 minutes without worrying that the suspect would somehow escape. But when the detective returned to begin his interrogation of Schwartzlow, he found out that he should have been worried after all because the suspect was gone — and the second-story window was open.
That was on October 18. On Tuesday of this week, more than four months after his daring escape, the Rock County sheriff complied with an open records law request by The Gazette Extra and released a video of the incident, which may be viewed below on this page.
The video shows Schwartzlow, after the detective leaves him alone in the room, opening the second-story window and diving head first to the ground below. But somehow, the teen suspect came through the plunge uninjured, as the video then switches to an outdoor security camera which shows a suspect identified as Schwartzlow by Madison, Wisconsin, TV station WISC-TV, sprinting across the property and escaping. The video then jumps ahead 14 minutes to the detective’s return, showing his alarm when he realizes that the suspect is gone.
No camera captured Schwartzlow’s landing, according to WISC, so how he managed to escape unharmed and even remove his handcuffs remains unclear.
According to The Gazette Extra, sheriff’s department Captain Todd Christiansen declined to name the detective who left Schwartzlow alone in the room and said that no disciplinary action had been taken against him or anyone involved in the case. Instead, an investigation into the incident found that the fault belonged solely to the windows in the room.
The windows have since been reinforced with screens, according to The Gazette Extra, in an attempt to prevent future suspects from diving their way to freedom.
The escape took place shortly before noon on October 18, according to WMTV in Madison. About four hours later, investigators tracked Schwartzlow down and re-arrested him, adding an escape charge to his initial assault-related charges.
In December, Schwartzlow pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him, including the escape — though it was captured on video. His next court date is scheduled for Friday of this week, according to WISC.
