Manhunt is on for Fugitive Missing in Texas
By: NBC News
Updated: February 13, 2013
Texas authorities fanned out Wednesday in a manhunt for a prisoner who police say wriggled out of custody in a Walmart parking lot by snapping his eyeglasses and using the jagged edge to stab an officer guarding him.
The state quickly placed the prisoner, Alberto Morales, on its list of 10 most-wanted fugitives and offered a $10,000 reward. The state said he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Morales, 41, was being flown from Miami to Nevada on Monday to serve a prison sentence for aggravated sexual assault. Two Miami detectives were flying with him, with a connection in Houston.
On the first leg of the trip, Morales acted erratically and banged his head against the seat in front of him, Miami police told NBCMiami.com. The three were not allowed to board their connecting flight to Las Vegas.
The detectives decided to rent a car and drive the rest of the way, and were picking up a third officer in Dallas to help. The first two detectives and Morales stopped at a Walmart so one of the detectives could use the bathroom.
That is when Morales took off his glasses and broke the frame to make a blade, police said. The detective left guarding him, Jaime Pardinas, was stabbed once in the chest and three times in the back. Morales ran away. The detective was treated at a hospital.
Police in the Dallas suburb of Grapevine were also looking for an SUV that Morales may have stolen from a motel overnight Monday. There was a gun in the SUV, a white 2008 Ford Explorer with a Texas license plate, police said.
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