Escapee Accused In Kidnapping

An inmate who escaped after being taken to a Spokane hospital is accused of abducting a woman and beating a man Monday before being recaptured, police said.

Michael P. Groves, 25, was being held without bond in the Spokane County Jail for investigation of burglary, kidnapping, assault and escape.

Groves, who originally had been booked for investigation of burglary, was moved from the jail to Sacred Heart Medical Center on Saturday for treatment of an ankle problem, police spokesman Dick Cottam said.

Cottam had no details on how Groves escaped from the hospital.

On Monday, police received a call that a man had abducted a woman from her northeast Spokane home and driven away with her in a van, Cottam said.

The woman was released unharmed a few blocks from her home and the van was abandoned, he said. A man who had tried to intervene in the abduction was beaten with a pipe and received minor injuries.

A man matching Groves’ description was spotted a short time later a few blocks from the scene of the abduction, Cottam said. After a foot chase, Groves was captured and returned to jail.

, DataTimes