SALT LAKE CITY, May 16, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A suspect who claimed to be her sister, then slipped out of cuffs and escaped police custody on Tuesday, is now spending her 33rd birthday in jail.
Whitney Lee Calder was detained for trespassing when the incident began, and had provided a Salt Lake City Police officer with the name and birthdate of her sister, claiming it was her own.
“AP (arrested party) insisted several times that the information she provided was correct,” says a probable cause statement filed by the SLCPD officer. “AP was not able to provide an accurate age to match the DOB she had provided. AP also had different tattoos than the information she had provided. I verified AP’s identity using RMS mugshot and tattoos.”
The suspect had a no bail warrant for her arrest, so the officer handcuffed Calder and placed her in the back of his police vehicle, rolling down the window about six inches for airflow during the trip to the Salt Lake County jail.
“While waiting in traffic at about 500 W. 3300 South, AP was able to slip the handcuffs off of her wrists, remove the seatbelt, and reach out of the window and open the rear passenger side door from the outside,” the officer’s statement says. “I attempted to roll the window back up, but I was not able to stop the AP from escaping.”
Calder fled on foot, eastbound on 3300 South, the affidavit says. She ignored the officer’s commands to stop.
“I caught the AP at about 600 W. 3300 South. I grabbed onto AP’s wrists and escorted her back to my patrol vehicle. AP repeatedly tried to pull away from me and escape. I restrained the AP until a second officer arrived on scene and was able to assist with applying an additional pair of handcuffs to the AP.”
The officer called Calder a flight risk, and noted “AP is very slender and will attempt to escape police custody again.”
Calder was charged on suspicion of:
- Escape from legal custody, a third-degree felony
- Failure to stop at command of law enforcement, a class A misdemeanor
- False personal info with intent to be another actual person, a class A misdemeanor
- Interference with an arresting officer, a class B misdemeanor
She was ordered held without bail.
