COLUMBIA, SC — Columbia police announced the re-arrest of a 20-year-old man who escaped from custody during the early hours of New Year’s Day in Five Points.

Three of his friends also were taken into custody.

Michael Juan Carrell originally was arrested around 2 a.m. Jan. 1 on the 700 block of Harden Street. He had been handcuffed and placed in a patrol car, police said, when the arresting officer left the scene to help another officer break up a fight nearby. Police say Carrell then broke out the window of the patrol car and fled.

He has been charged with escape, resisting arrest, providing false information to police, illegal possession of alcohol, malicious injury to property and petit larceny.

Also arrested Wednesday and charged with accessory after the fact were Amber Dean, 27; Keith Allen Hood, 27; and Melissa Rose Hood, 20. They are accused of helping Carrell remove his handcuffs after his escape. They allegedly used a grinding tool to cut through the chain and an old key to unlock the handcuffs, a police news release said.

Rachael Myers Lowe