After five tense hours and a police chase that led from the Dominican Hospital to Prospect Heights, the SCPD captured Maurice Lamont Ainsworth Jr., 24, after a failed attempt to escape from police custody. According to news reports, the trouble began at 11:30am, when a lone deputy escorted Ainsworth to Dominican Hospital for an MRI. As the deputy began placing shackles on him, Ainsworth overpowered her, punched her in the face and bit her. She attempted to tase him, but he grabbed the taser from her and used it on her instead. Then he grabbed her gun, a .40 mm semi-automatic, shot at a bystander who attempted to help the police officer and fled from the hospital.
After five tense hours and a police chase that led from the Dominican Hospital to Prospect Heights, the SCPD captured Maurice Lamont Ainsworth Jr., 24, after a failed attempt to escape from police custody.
According to news reports, the trouble began at 11:30am, when a lone deputy escorted Ainsworth to Dominican Hospital for an MRI. As the deputy began placing shackles on him, Ainsworth overpowered her, punched her in the face and bit her. She attempted to tase him, but he grabbed the taser from her and used it on her instead. Then he grabbed her gun, a .40 mm semi-automatic, shot at a bystander who attempted to help the police officer and fled from the hospital.
His first stop was The Secret Garden Too preschool across the street. He smashed his way through a glass door and entered a room with four infants, a teacher and a parent. Pressing the gun to the teacher’s head, he demanded her car keys. She surrendered them, and Ainsworth fled across the crowded school playground, hoping to get to her car, a Volkswagen Rabbit. He never made it. Seeing police arriving from all sides, he dropped the keys and fled on foot.
Several residents called 911, reporting sightings of Ainsworth, who had reached the Prospect Heights neighborhood. One of these calls was from a Russian-speaking family on English Drive, which claimed that Ainsworth was holding them hostage, though they later managed to escape the home. A team of hostage negotiators was assembled, while a SWAT team cleared the neighboring houses. Finally, Ainsworth saw how much force had been brought in to capture him, and he surrendered peacefully at 4:30pm. “We got him in custody,” Interim Police Chief Kevin Vogel announced.
After a harrowing day, police are already looking into the procedures for taking prisoners to medical appointments outside of the prison. Just recently it was reported that some prisoners are permitted to leave prison on their own recognizance, provided that they promise to return. Ainsworth, however, is accused of violent crimes, so a deputy was sent to accompany him.
Ainsworth is scheduled to be charged on Jan. 10 with four counts of felony robbery, one count of felony burglary, three counts of kidnapping, discharging a firearm and two counts of auto theft. To this he can add escape, attempted homicide, kidnapping and burglary for yesterday’s escapade. Read more at the Santa Cruz Sentinel, ABC 7 and NBC Bay Area.
