Prison escapee Ž.B. (47) fled from a police escort officer after a hearing at the County Court in Velika Gorica. The officer faces disciplinary proceedings, while the fugitive's family is under police protection.
Law enforcement agencies are currently conducting an extensive search for Ž.B. (47), who escaped from custody on Tuesday while handcuffed, after attending a hearing at the County Court in Velika Gorica. At the hearing, he was ordered into one-month pretrial detention for disregarding court orders and violating child rights. According to information from Jutarnji list, the police officer from the Escort Unit, from whom he escaped, faces possible disciplinary measures.
Ž.B. was under the supervision of the same officer from 10 a.m. until the moment of his escape at 2:15 p.m. While waiting for the hearing before the investigating judge, the detainee expressed that he was hungry. The officer took the initiative to go to a store across from the court and bought him a burek and milk, paying for it with his own money.
At that moment, he was left alone in the police vehicle, locked and restrained. As the same source notes, it is not uncommon for police officers and judicial staff to buy water, pastries, or coffee from vending machines in court buildings for detainees with their own money.
After the judge informed him that he was returning to prison, Ž.B. gave no indication of his intentions. He appeared calm and seemed to have accepted the fact that he would return to his cell. The officer held him with one hand and carried detention documents in the other. While opening the door of the police van, he had to let go of him for a moment, which the fugitive seized and fled to the left.
The officer immediately chased after him. As they crossed the road, a car approached, narrowly avoiding the fugitive but almost hitting the officer. The officer fell but quickly got up and continued running. A young passerby joined the chase, but Ž.B., who is of slight build, skillfully disappeared among the buildings of Cvjetno naselje.
Although he thought he could get away by blaming his actions on misunderstanding and the fact that the controversial Facebook messages, for which he was arrested, were written under Suboxone therapy, he got a cold shower when the investigating judge informed him that he was returning to prison, from which he had been released on August 14 after serving a total of 4 years and 8 months for a series of criminal offenses.
The police immediately sent a patrol to the door of the fugitive's wife's apartment to protect her and the children. Kornelija Kallay Blažeković, spokesperson for the County Court in Velika Gorica, told Slobodna Dalmacija that the family is protected by the intervention police and that the Victim and Witness Support Department of the County Court in Zagreb contacted the family the same day.
"When the police find him, he can expect arrest and transfer to pretrial detention based on the court investigation order imposing one-month pretrial detention due to the risk of reoffending," said Kallay Blažeković.
Since Tuesday, every inch of Velika Gorica has been searched, with officers checking all passages, vehicles, and waste containers. Ž.B. was released from prison on August 14 after serving a total of 4 years and 8 months for a series of criminal offenses, and now he is again in the spotlight of the police.
From the Croatian Police Union (SPH), they told Jutarnji list that they regularly warn about the need for better equipment and protection of officers. They remind that the Rulebook on the Reception and Handling of Detainees stipulates that the escort of detainees is carried out by at least two police officers with prescribed security measures, and the detainee must be restrained with restraining devices.
"The use of restraining devices is prescribed by the Rulebook on the Conduct of Police Officers in a way that restricts body movement by handcuffing hands behind the back, and exceptionally in front if the person is under the supervision of at least two police officers," they stated from SPH.
The union does not want to comment on whether there was a failure in this case and whose, as the circumstances of the escape are still being determined. However, they would support changes to the rulebook that would further restrict the movement of suspects and detainees, especially after the increase in attacks on police officers. "Imagine what would happen if they used additional means of coercion," they warn from SPH, adding that they will always support any change that leads to greater protection of state officials.
The Zagreb Police Department is investigating all details of the escape and possible fault of the officer. Jutarnji list also notes that Zagreb courts have detention cells in their buildings, while Velika Gorica does not, so the escort to Remetinec is carried out by the Ministry of the Interior.
