Shoeless and handcuffed: Suspect manages to escape police custody in Helmond

A handcuffed man who was being taken into police custody in connection with a domestic violence incident managed to escape from officers in Helmond on Thursday. He was not wearing shoes and the time, and encountered several witnesses after the attempted arrest while walking around in his socks.

Police said he had approached several people looking for help in removing the handcuffs. He told them the handcuffs were part of a wild night with his girlfriend. Among those he approached was a city parks worker who had an angle grinder and other tools with him.

However, without electricity, the worker said there was nothing he could do. Further, he did not want to injure the man with the power tool, the Eindhovens Dagblad reported.

The man is about 50 years old “with a distressed appearance,” according to the police. He was last seen wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a city on it, dark shorts, and socks, but no shoes.

The police were looking for him in the vicinity of Lockeplantsoen and Evertsenstraat in the Noord-Brabant city. “Have you seen the man? Please contact us,” the Helmond police said on Facebook.

A spokesperson for the police told Eindhovens Dagblad that they arrested the man earlier on Thursday after a report of the domestic incident, but he managed to get away. "As you can see, police officers are just people who can make mistakes too," the police department wrote on Instagram.