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Jail finds out about security gap the hard way

Posted: 6:04 pm PST November 16,2009Updated: 6:34 pm PST November 16,2009

SPOKANE - The Spokane County Sheriff's Office found out about a hole in its security layout the hard way Sunday when a mentally ill man drove his mother's car into one of the jail's roll-up door.

Security cameras caught Dustin Leeds crashing into the door Sunday, he was already braking when slammed into an interior door and taken into custody. Jail security was not compromised because Leeds still would have had to open two additional locked doors and even at that point would have only been in the booking area.

“As you enter the interior of the sally port that was broken into by the vehicle, there's interior doors that keep people separated from the regular part of the jail,” Captain John McGrath from the Spokane Sheriff's Office said.

It's doubtful Leeds was intent on helping some one escape, but Leeds was an inmate at the jail for more than a year back in 2007. Court records show that Leeds has mental health problems and spent a lot of time at Eastern State Hospital. He appeared before the same judge Monday who convicted him of punching his mother in the head in 2005.

“He knew if he did this, he'd be arrested,” McGrath said.

The Spokane Sheriff's Office is in charge of court house security and while many areas were fortified in 2005 there are other spots like the open door on the public safety building underground garage that leave the complex susceptible.

The security breach on Sunday is a reminder that there is always room for improvements.

“The county is self-insured and we'll put in a claim for repairs and we'll assess what we can do more to keep this from happening again,” McGrath said.

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