Miami-Dade Officer Stabbed By Inmate In Texas
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — A Florida prisoner being flown to Nevada has escaped late Monday night in the Dallas area after stabbing one of his Miami-Dade police escorts.
Miami-Dade Police detectives Jamie Pardinas, 54, and David Carrero were escorting Alberto Morales,42, to Carson City, Nevada when they had a layover Monday night in Houston.
Morales plead guilty to charges in South Florida and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The prison sentence was to be served consecutively with his term in Nevada, where authorities say he had been sentenced to life in prison in 2008 for sexually assaulting a Nevada woman at gunpoint in 2003.
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Morales was being returned to Nevada because of that case.
Miami-Dade police Director J.D. Patterson said Morales was disruptive on the flight and the officers were informed he would not be allowed to board another flight.
"I believe he was acting such ways whereras maybe bumping his head on a passenger's seat in front of him and doing a lot of crazy unusual things that just disrupted the entire flight," said Patterson.
Pardinas and Carrero decided to rent a car and drive to Las Vegas, nearly 1,200 miles away.
Pardinas and Carrero stopped in Dallas to await the arrival of a third Miami-Dade officer who would accompany them to Las Vegas.
During a stop at a Walmart, Morales broke off the frame of his eye glasses and stabbed Pardinas four times, three times in the back and once in the chest when Carrero went into the store.
Pardinas and Carrero stopped in Dallas to await the arrival of a third Miami-Dade officer who would accompany them to Las Vegas.
During a stop at a Walmart, Morales broke off the frame of his eye glasses and stabbed Pardinas four times, three times in the back and once in the chest when Carrero went into the store.
"He was taken to a hospital in Dallas and was being treated. He is in serious but stable condition and there is a manhunt going on for Mr. Morales," said Patterson.
It's not clear how the incident happened.
"He was handcuffed and how he got out of those handcuffs is not known," said Patterson. "We're not going to give up until this person is back in custody."
Pardinas is a 28 year veteran of the police force. Carrero has been with the department seven years.
Morales, who got away in shackles and handcuffs, is considered armed and dangerous.
Texas has placed Alberto Morales on its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list and is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Morales.
Morales has an extensive criminal history. He was convicted of raping two women at knifepoint inside their Little Havana apartment in 2003. At the time, police said he told the women he would return to their apartment and kill them if they called police. One of the victims was a 61-year-old woman.
Morales was finally apprehended for that crime in Nevada in 2008.
He was brought back to Miami where he pleaded guilty to sexual battery, burglary and kidnapping. He was given a ten year sentence.
In 2003, in an interview, Police Major Delrish Moss said of Morales, "He doesn't think twice about hurting someone."
According to the state of Texas, Morales has a tattoo of a Native American on a horse on his left shoulder and upper left arm; scars on his left hand, left arm, and nose.
Morales can now add four Texas arrest warrants for: attempted capital murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault on a police officer, and escape.
Patterson said members of Pardinas's family and Miami-Dade Police supervisors had flown to Dallas to see Pardinas at Parkway Memorial Hospital.
