Pineville Police making changes after woman escapes handcuffs, jumps out of police car

PINEVILLE, N.C. (WBTV) – Officials with the Pineville Police Department gave an update Tuesday night on a situation that left a woman seriously hurt while in custody.

On July 17, Pineville Police arrested 27-year-old Morgan Johnson, citing she assaulted her boyfriend and resisted arrest.

When in the back of the patrol car on I-485, officers said Johnson was able to get one of her hands out of the handcuffs and open the back window.

Though the driving officer slowed down, Johnson jumped out of the window and had to be rushed to the hospital with serious injuries.

In a Facebook Live Tuesday night, Pineville police said they are making at least 7 major changes to make sure this never happens again.

When WBTV asked how Johnson was able to get out of her handcuffs, police chief Michael Hudgins said Johnson was ‘petite’ and able to slip out of her cuffs, noting they ‘aren’t always reliable’.

As for the window getting rolled down, Hudgins says their cars were set up like any other, where if the front windows are unlocked, so are the back windows.

“We don’t know how that window got open,” explained Hudgins.

“Apparently, it was left unlocked, and she was able to roll her own window down. That’s why we made those changes.”

The policy changes he’s talking about include added requirements like putting a seatbelt on the arrested person in the backseat, disabling the rear window button and installing bars on the windows.

Police were also asked about Johnson’s current condition. They said they could not share anything more than that she is in a different city with her mother.

Related: Woman sustains life-threatening injuries after exiting still-moving police car

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