Tonight two prisoners are at large and one has been recaptured. At around 5 this evening, Casey Allen, Dennis Quilter and Ernest Haynes escaped from a police pickup truck that was taking prisoners from the magistrate's court to the prison. They sprang out of the truck between the Western Highway and Vernon Street. Police set chase after them, and called for backup. That's when teams of officers descended on the area. They recaptured Dennis Quilter, but burglary suspect Casey Allen and firearm suspect Ernest Haynes are still at large. And it's not for want of trying. Police blanketed the residential area of Lake Independence and it seems were ready to shoot after anything that moved. That included one unlucky dog that belonged to Claudette Leslie. When we got there, the dog was being carted away, she told us what happened.
Claudette Leslie,
"The dogs were playing this with this one when the police came in so she ran after the police. But before she could do anything to the police, the police shot him right here, right here underneath the house. The police didn't say they are coming into the yard or nothing. They saw these dogs because you can see from the back to the front that we have dogs. They saw these dogs in this yard. They could have asked if the dogs were tied or something. The man just bluntly shot the yard. We had kids around. It was commotion with my baby inside the house because of that.
The police hollered that the dog bit him, that dog doesn't bite and that is why he let her loose. She doesn't bite. This is the bite one here and the thing that hurts is that we've had these dogs from they were little and now we only have this one left. And now they will holler that the dog bit the police.
They could have hollered. They could have said that if anyone is home and your dog is loose, please tie them. They didn't do that. They didn't do that none at all and they could have seen if any prisoner is in this yard because you can see from the back underneath to the front. The yard is opened up.
That is why the people never help them because they don't have any PR, none at all. They got frustrated and bex because they can't catch this person and they took it out of every and anybody. We had the kids in the yard so if we really didn't know what was happening, the kids would have seen that and then how would it leave them. For me it hurts me real bad to see police shot that dog and it is just the dog but the dog is for us. It is like they shot one of us. They have to think."
The police search for Ernest Haynes and Casey Allen continues at this hour.
