A woman taken to OHSU Hospital after a court hearing escaped from a deputy by removing a ceiling tile in a restroom, crawling into another room, changing her appearance and walking away undetected, Multnomah County sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.
Sabrina Cox, 24, of Portland has been missing since she fled about 4 p.m. Monday from the hospital, the sheriff’s office said in an alert asking for the public’s helping in finding her.
Cox, in custody after a court appearance in an aggravated identity theft case, was being booked into jail but needed medical attention and was taken by ambulance to the hospital under the watch of a deputy, sheriff’s officials said in a statement. They didn’t give details of Cox’s ailment.
While she was in a single-user restroom at the hospital, she climbed into the ceiling space, lowered herself into another room, “defeated her restraints” and headed out, according to the statement. Cox altered her appearance, sheriff’s officials said, but they didn’t say how.
They asked anyone with information about Cox to call 911, but said she isn’t believed to be a public safety risk.
They released a recent jail booking photo of Cox and described her as about 5-foot-4, 125 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and a scar on her left wrist. She has connections in North Portland and Battle Ground, they said.