Six prisoners escaped from a New Mexico county jail in Bernalillo as guards and other inmates were engrossed in the TV show “Baywatch,” officials said Aug. 22.
The prisoners escaped on the night of Aug. 18 by cutting an 18-inch hole through a thin metal wall while almost everyone else was “hootin’ and hollerin’ and whatnot” at the female lifeguards on the show, jail official John Van Stickler said.
Three of the inmates were recaptured shortly after the breakout and told police they had not planned to escape, but took advantage of the opportunity when the others slipped out.
“They saw the hole, they knew people had left and they thought, `What the hey, I’m gonna go ahead and go too,’ ” Van Stickler said.
Another prisoner was recaptured Thursday night. Two remain at large.
Officials are considering bolstering security by installing motion dectectors and razor wire on the jail’s outside fence, as well as adding a second fence.
But Van Stickler said no limitations would be put on “Baywatch.”
“It was only a coincidence. It could have been `Monday Night Football,’ and Tampa Bay scored finally,” he said.
Not getting skunked
Rescuing skunks with yogurt containers stuck on their heads might be a nasty job, but somebody has to do it. Meet animal humane officer Bob Warren in Kenosha.
“As long as you keep its tail down, it won’t spray,” Warren said.
Seven times this summer, Warren has responded to calls of a skunk’s head being trapped inside a discarded Yoplait container after the scavenger tried to lick out the inside.
The problem is the container’s tapered tops, the skunk expert said.
“I’ve half a mind to write them and ask them to redesign their container or to not make the stuff so appealing to skunks,” Warren said.
