Snoozing policeman who let convict escape is jailed for breach of duty
Elderly officer also sees pension and salary suspended for sleeping at a hotel, allowing prisoner to unlock her chains and flee
A policeman who fell asleep on the job and allowed a woman convict to escape during hospital treatment has been charged with breach of duty and sentenced to six months in jail, the Southern Weekly reported on Tuesday.
The policeman, surnamed Mai, was supposed to keep watch over the inmate while she was at the Shenzhen Armed Police Hospital in Futian district for urinary disease treatment on September 23 last year.
Instead, Mai, who was 60 at the time of the incident, felt tired and went to sleep at a nearby hotel, leaving an auxiliary policewoman assigned with him to watch over the prisoner, surnamed Qin.
Qin, who was convicted in a 750,000 yuan (HK$945,000) fraud case, was tethered to the hospital bed with ankle chains. The two officers decided not to handcuff her so she could drink her pills easier.
Shortly after midnight, nurses were shocked to discover that the patient had fled, leaving the ankle chains on the bed.
A panicked Mai was called back to the hospital, where he learned that the auxiliary policewoman had also fallen asleep outside the ward.
The policewoman said Qin attempted to bribe her with 100,000 yuan in exchange for setting the inmate free.