Staff writer
A female resident of Westview Nursing Center left the facility about 4 a.m. Tuesday to smoke a cigarette. When her allotted time was up she walked away from Westview and staff members contacted law enforcement according to Marion County dispatch transmissions.
Peabody Police Chief Bruce Burke was called and arrived in Peabody at about 4:20 a.m.
He contacted Marion County dispatch for a description of the woman’s clothing and at 4:48 a.m. contacted dispatch that he was in foot pursuit of the woman in the 400 block of N. Poplar St.
In a transmission a minute later the dispatcher responded to another office asking if help was needed and said, “We have a subject escaped from Westview Manor. They went out the back door and workers couldn’t get them back in. Right now Bruce [Burke] is on foot pursuit with the subject.”
At 4:53, Burke contacted Marion County dispatch and said he was en route back to Westview. A call five minutes later indicated the resident had been returned to the health care facility.
Burke said the woman was not aggressive or hostile when he took her back.
“I don’t know if she was not willing to go back in with the employees after she finished her cigarette,” he said. “She didn’t give me any trouble and I thought she probably just walked away.”
“When I found her she was not far from Westview, but she didn’t know how to get back,” he added. “She didn’t know where she was and it was just starting to rain pretty good so she was ready for a ride.”
A phone call to Westview Manor generated no additional information as administrator Bonita Brady was attending an out-of-town meeting and was not available for comment.