WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. --
Video from inside a West Bloomfield Township police squad car shows a handcuffed man escape from the car.
The video shows the man with hands cuffed behind his back. He manages to move from the backseat to the front where he empties his pockets, which police records show contained heroin.
The man then chews off one of the handcuffs and gets out of the car through the window.
The West Bloomfield Township Police Department searched for the man for eight hours. A helicopter was needed to help flush the fugitive out of a swamp. He was ultimately caught.
He was originally arrested after police said he attacked a woman with a knife and for possession of the heroin.
The police officer held responsible for the man's escape was disciplined by the police chief with a three-day suspension.
However, the township supervisor, Michelle Economou Ureste, overturned the chief's decision to suspend the police officer. Township board members found Economou Ureste's decision outrageous, calling it retaliatory. They asking the supervisor to justify her actions.
"It all smacks of too much coincidence," said township trustee Howard Rosenberg. "It looks personal."
The board members call it retaliatory and coincidental since the supervisor and her husband were pulled over Aug. 13 on a suspicion of drunk driving. Her husband, who was driving, failed a breathalyzer test when he blew a .11 blood alcohol level -- over the legal limit of .08.
He was never ticketed, arrested or charged. Instead, the two were driven home by the police officer.
One of the two officers who were at the traffic stop also was the one held responsible for the man's escape from the squad car.
"In this case, an officer did a fine job making a proper arrest, slipped out of some cuffs," Economou Ureste said, standing by her decision. "I think a written is sufficient."
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