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Man Accused In Police Car Escape To Stand Trial
Andrew Collins Allegedly Kicked Out El Cajon Police Patrol Car Window, Scaled Hotel
POSTED: 7:05 am PDT July 14, 2010
UPDATED: 6:58 pm PDT July 14, 2010
SAN DIEGO -- A parolee who allegedly kicked out the window of a patrol car and made a run for freedom while en route to jail on a robbery arrest must stand trial on several felony charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.Andrew David Collins faces between 90 and 120 years to life in state prison if convicted of robbery, burglary, vandalism and resisting arrest, said Deputy District Attorney Amy Maund.Collins, 26, has two prior robbery convictions from 2003, the prosecutor said.After a daylong preliminary hearing, Judge Margie G. Woods ruled that enough evidence had been presented to bound Collins over for trial on Sept. 2.A clerk at a 7-Eleven store in El Cajon testified that Collins swung a baseball bat at him while stealing cigarettes on March 8.Mariano Lupain, a clerk at an am/pm minimart in El Cajon, testified that Collins came in Feb. 10 and demanded money. The clerk said he didn't give Collins any cash, but the defendant stole some cigarettes and fled.Collins was arrested March 17 by El Cajon police in connection with the robberies and violating his parole, authorities said.As he was being transported to jail, Collins allegedly slipped one hand out of his handcuffs and kicked out the back passenger window, breaking a metal bar and going head-first out of the patrol car.Officers hit Collins with a Taser -- which shoots barbs connected to wires that send an electrical current through a person's body -- but the suspect yanked out the wires and ran into the parking garage of the Doubletree hotel, police said.Once inside the 22-story downtown hotel, Collins entered several rooms and used balconies to lower himself four floors on the north side of the building, witnesses said.Collins was captured about 45 minutes later on the fifth floor, wearing the clothes of a woman whose room he'd allegedly broken into, Maund said.
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