A woman, Patricia Rodriguez, aged 38, was arrested Sunday, February 19, 2023, after barricading herself in a police vehicle at the Larimer County jail in Colorado while armed with an officer’s gun.
The woman reportedly slips out of handcuff while in the car and succeeded in removing the police officer’s gun from where he kept it in a safe.
According to a news release from the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, the woman was initially arrested in connection to a Fort Collins shoplifting incident which occurred at about 4 p.m.
While Fort Collins officers were in the process of taking her from the police vehicle into the booking area, the woman slipped out of her handcuffs.
The news release stated that the officer had secured his duty weapon in the car because it is not allowed in the booking area, but the woman “manipulated the storage safety measures” and grabbed the gun.
She tried to take the officer hostage at gunpoint, but he escaped to the secure area of the jail.
The woman then barricaded in the police vehicle and refused to come out for about two and a half hours.
She was said to have driven round the vehicle bay and asked for cigarette as they negotiated.
Eventually, law enforcement agents used teargas and moved in with large vehicles to pin her up.
At 7:30 p.m., the woman exited the vehicle and deputies arrested her.
Fort Collins police officers, Larimer County Sheriff’s deputies, the LCSO All Hazards/Crisis Response team, Fort Collins’ SWAT team, LCSO crisis negotiators, Poudre Fire Authority, and UCHealth EMS were said to have responded to assist.
She was booked into jail after a medical evaluation on charges of first-degree assault and aggravated robbery, attempted second-degree kidnapping, criminal mischief of $5,000 to $19,999, disarming a peace officer and resisting arrest for the incident, according to the news release.
Investigations are said to be on on how a suspect could slip off the handcuff at the back of a patrol car, steal a gun from a Fort Collins police officer and barricade herself in the car.
Fort Collins police will file separate charges for the shoplifting incident.
