Getting out of handcuffs?

[FrostedWoods]

This is such a bizarre thing to write about but hear me out!

Had a weird situation with the police last night. Won't fully go into it but they mistakenly thought there was a criminal in my house and I was arrested then unarrested when they realised their mistake. I was put into handcuffs. I have hypermobility. And I think due to this I could get out of the cuffs pretty easily. Has anyone else experienced this?

I was so suprised at how easy they are to get out of. Do they have any kind of back up if they really need to keep someone secure? Just keep thinking about it! 😄

Make an official complaint - it sounds as if these police officers need significant training.

Us this meant to be tenth rate at a kinky post

Get a life!

Ahhh, so glad to see this post. I was watching a true crime episode on YouTube a couple of weeks ago. This mother with obvious mental health issues had been recorded on home cctv getting a knife from the kitchen and taking her 2 year daughter into the bathroom. We could hear the little girl screaming in pain as the mother attempted to harm her. We then saw the poor baby run out of the bathroom shouting ‘no’! Luckily the mother did not get to cause much harm to the girl. How it relates to this- police attended, cuffed the mother with her hands behind her, put her in police car. The woman simply pulled her hand out of the cuffs and sat quietly in the car. Police noticed and went to her to re-cuff her, this time making it tighter and saying so. They moved away and again on camera she simply slipped the cuff off and put her hand beside her and sat quietly, obviously dissociated. Police came back and just could
not figure out HOW she kept getting the cuffs off as they could see nothing wrong with it. It has sat with me so since I saw it, and I find myself wondering how she kept doing that! Sounds like there are just people who can get themselves out of any bind! 🥹

When you've calmed down and taken stock, you might think about going to Citizens' Advice (if there is one near you) and asking them about your options.

ps. I'm so sorry this happened to you, OP. Well done for being so resilient about the experience. I hope you're feeling a bit better today.

I used to get a response cop and had a handful of people escape cuffs (or were known to be capable of it) Only one was male

There are ways around it. You can cuff both wrists in one bracket but then you constantly have to hold the other side so it’s not used as a weapon or to self harm. Cuffs can go pretty tight as well, even for skinny wristed people. It’s usual to allow enough room so you can run your finger between the wrist and cuff but if people are going to slip them they can be tight enough they dig into skin

I don’t recall ever arresting someone for just being in a house where a wanted person is believed to be though, or handcuffing someone there, unless there was a reason for it (such as them kicking off or getting in the way)

Ive not heard the term unarrest either. Dearrest, yes

Sorry?

I have

What?!

Oh, that's a very sad story. But yes, it seems in particular women who have hypermobility can get out of the cuffs pretty easily. Like this situation I just got the cuffs off I didn't try to 'escape' or anything. Don't know why they felt the necessity to start shrieking and keep putting them back on. Definitely needs to be a hell of a lot of training.

Thank you, that's kind. We are feeling better but still trying to process it all. I've made a complaint - I'll see what comes of that but CAB is a good idea thanks.

Thanks for the explanation. Maybe I got it wrong and it was dearrest. It was the opposite of arrest anyway.

I don't know whether my complaint will lead to an explanation of what was actually going on. It's just confusion and speculation at the moment.

I hope you got an apology and an explanation. I can imagine I would be very upset and feel claustrophobic if I was handcuffed.

You do deserve an explanation and apology if they’ve cocked up. We have been to the wrong address on occasion (it’s easy to do in Leeds as there are so many streets here with the same name so you’ll have a bank of addresses all called, say, Brownhill Terrace, Brownhill Crscent, Brownhill Avenue etc) and I have never been anything but very apologetic if I’ve got the wrong person out of bed 😂

I am at a loss what you were arrested for though, sorry! If they genuinely thought you were the partner of a wrongun and hiding them being there, maybe assisting an offender? I once had to deal with an arrest where the partner (a large lady) laid on the stairs stopping police going up to the suspect. She wasn’t the victim of the alleged assault so she ended up coming to the cells too for obstructing police

https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/adviceinformation/police-powers-of-arrest-2/#page-section
If you are arrested, the police must:

• tell you that you are being arrested and are not free to leave; and
• explain why they are arresting you.

If they do not give you this information as soon as is practicable, the arrest is unlawful.

There is some other useful info in the link. Hopefully you can get an answer as this sounds very unusual.

I've got hypermobile hands. I can fold my left thumb into my palm enough to squish my whole hand smaller than my wrist, cross my left index finger across all the others so it crosses against the little finger, bend my right thumb flat & parallel to the wrist.

I used to be able to do all of these with both hands, but have got less bendy with age!

I can absolutely slither out of handcuffs. I'm a teacher, & we used to invite a company called Prison? Me? No Way! in to do workshops with year 8. Obviously cuffing a teacher was part of the 'show', & after the first year it was always me so I could 'annoyingly' escape & have them tightened. I could still slide off anything that fitted around my wrists if I tried & didn't mind bruised thumbs, but politely went along with the tighter cuffs.

More importantly, OP, you need answers. This sounds quite bonkers.

@FrostedWoods

What an awful experience. In light of the fact the police falsely arrested you, ruined your New Year’s Eve and traumatised your children, please consider googling a firm of solicitors which deals with claims against the police. The police receive so many complaints and take a ridiculously long time to investigate - and even then it is the police investigating themselves.

You deserve some compensation so remember to take photographs of your bruised wrists.

No, no apology or explanation. I hope I can get some answers from the complaint.

It is very confusing. If I was screaming because said criminal had hurt me why was I now fine and why would I 'hide' them or whatever. Why was it necessary to handcuff a mother who was just trying to protect her autistic kids?

But think that through - the no warrant thing. You are a woman, husband has beaten you up and you are on the floor bleeding but have been able to contact the police. They come to the door, husband says no problem here officer, police ask to come in , he says no and they go on their way to get a warrant and leave you there with a violent man who now knows you've called the police on him.....

My husband was a police officer. When my daughter was three she found his spare handcuffs and put them on. She was well and truly stuck. I had to phone the station and he came rushing home to release her. The cuffs generally adjust to the size of the wrists.

Yes, that does make sense. However, in my case they could see I was fine.

From.what others say there are different types of cuffs. Sounds like these were the 'cable tie type'. Bet that was a shock for your daughter!

Sadly many women who have been assaulted by a partner refuse to engage with police which includes them lying by saying he’s not there when in fact he’s hiding in the bathroom or whatever

Albeit I’d be unlikely to penalise a woman under those circs, or handcuff her. I was thinking more of the situation where someone was actively letting an offender hide in their basement or something

Keep us updated!