(La Porte County, IN) - Dental hygene wasn't the first thing a La Porte County Jail inmate apparently had in mind when he put a toothbrush into his mouth. He could get a stomach ulcer from the additional time behind bars he could receive for what happened after he swallowed the toothbrush.

 

Daniel Keeling, 32, is charged in La Porte Circuit Court with Escape and Battery.

 

According to court documents, Keeling was in the La Porte County Jail in late January on charges of Battery and Driving Without ever Receiving a Driver’s License. Jail officers rushed into his cell after Keeling was spotted trying to swallow his jail-issued toothbrush.

 

The jail officers, though, were not successful in their attempt to keep the toothbrush from going down into his throat. Keeling was transported to Northwest Health to be checked out and restrained to a bed in the emergency room.

 

Later, a jail officer allowed him to get up from his hospital bed and use the bathroom.  After finishing up, Keeling bolted out the bathroom door and down the emergency room hallway when grabbed by the jail officer and taken to the floor.

 

Police said Keeling kept fighting, though, forcing the jail officer to strike him four times in the side with his fist.  However, Keeling was able to get away a second time and ran outside through the emergency room exit.

 

The jail officer caught up to him again and with help from hospital staff returned  him to his bed and placed him back into restraints. The jail officer suffered an abrasion to the side of his head and a scrape to his left forearm.