Arrested for drunkeness, handcuffed Sonoma man escapes cop car

A Sonoma man in a police car after being arrested for public intoxication early Thursday morning managed to maneuver his handcuffs from front to back, jump out of the car and escape into the night.

About six hours later, the suspect, still wearing the handcuffs and having eluded a search of the neighborhood, voluntarily returned to the Sonoma Valley substation and turned himself in.

Dominic Gates, 21, was originally arrested at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday morning at the Chevron gas station on West Napa Street.

After police transport to the station, according to a Sheriff’s Office report, the deputy went inside the substation briefly to get paperwork — then heard Gates slam the car door shut. The deputy ran outside to see Gates jumping the fence to escape the secured parking lot.

The report said that Gates “had managed to slip his handcuffs to the front of his body, slip his skinny arms through the bars on the patrol car windows and unlatched the door to let himself out of the car.”

Gates took off running, jumping fences through the neighborhood. Deputies secured a perimeter in the neighborhood and called out the Sheriff’s helicopter. After a thorough search of the neighborhood and contacting relatives in the area, the deputies called off the search.

At about 6:45 a.m. this morning Gates arrived at the Sonoma Valley substation and turned himself in, still with the handcuffs on. Gates was ultimately booked for public intoxication and escape from custody. He is being held on $2,500 bail.