CHEYENNE — A man trying to run away from police after crashing a car near downtown Cheyenne in the early hours of Thursday morning made the chase easy for law enforcement by unknowingly trying to break into the Laramie County jail.
“You ever wonder what happened to that kid that always lost at hide-and-seek?” asks an amused Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak in a video response to the incident.
“I think he’s in our jail,” he quips.
Kozak goes on to explain that the man came onto the radar of sheriff’s office deputies when they saw him running around the detention center at the intersection of 20th Street and Pioneer Avenue in downtown Cheyenne.
The man seemed frantic and was trying all the doors around the building, trying to get in, he said.
“On the camera system, they saw some guy running from door to door on the outside of our jail trying to get in — wiggling the doors and just trying to get in the jail,” the sheriff said.
Those watching the cameras alerted jail deputies, “who went outside and found this guy hiding near the intake door,” Kozak said. “You know, where the police officers drive into the sally port to book people into the jail.”
The man was “hiding there in a corner” when deputies found him, then gave a false name when asked for identification, Kozak said.
‘Didn’t Have Far To Take Him Into The Jail’
That’s when the deputies learned that there had been a vehicle crash a few blocks away, “and the police department was looking for the suspect who fled,” the sheriff said.
So, the Cheyenne Police Department was contacted to arrest the guy, after which they “didn’t have far to take him into the jail, so that’s one good thing,” Kozak said.
The driver, later identified as a 44-year-old transient named Adam Scott, was arrested on suspicion of falsely identifying himself, driving under suspension, driving the wrong way on a one-way street, no proof of insurance, and hit and run, reports CPD spokesperson Alexandra Farkas-Schulz.
Cheyenne police were dispatched just before 12 a.m. Thursday to a report of a vehicled that crashed near the intersection of West 19th Street and Brent Avenue, she says in an email to Cowboy State Daily.
"The preliminary investigation shows the vehicle was traveling in the wrong direction on West 20th Street before attempting to turn south onto Brent Avenue," Farkas-Schulz wrote. "The driver failed to make the turn, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and strick a building.
"The vehicle continued into a parking lot south of the building, where it came to a stop."
Scott, fled the scene and asked a passerby to report the crash, and he was later found outside the jail. He was taken to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center for an evaluation before being booked into the local jail.
Kozak said that besides the incredibly bad luck of trying to get away from police by attempting to break into the jail, the suspect may have been guided there.
“I’m guessing maybe what happened was he saw the flashing ‘VACANCY’ sign and thought maybe it was a hotel,” he said. “But it wasn’t.”
Kozak was referring to the bright red, neon “VACANCY” sign that’s perpetually flashing above the northeast door to the jail.
“However, he did find out the ‘vacancy’ thing – that’s legit,” the sheriff added. “So, he’s in our jail.”
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
