Apr 8, 2008 10:20 pm US/Central
Jail Escapee Caught After 10 Hours On The Lam
Witnesses: Inmate Hit Officer With Crutch, Then Ran Out Into Waiting Van
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A flight from justice is over Tuesday night for an escaped Cook County Jail inmate.
The Cook County Sheriff says Kirk Davis was captured after some 10 hours on the run. He was found at the home of family members at 71st and Langley, where he was hiding on the second floor. He had shaved his head.
As CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports, shortly before 10 a.m., Davis came into the hospital, at 1901 W. Harrison St., on crutches and wearing what looked like a leg cast. Davis came in for a cancer treatment, along with a leg injury and was using crutches.
Police say the escape was planned.
Davis was arrested last month for aggravated battery.
Witnesses say they saw Davis in the lobby of the hospital Tuesday morning, walking on two crutches. A correctional officer was behind him.
Davis walked through the revolving door of the hospital with one officer behind him, and upon getting inside, he hit the officer on the head with one of his crutches, witnesses said. When the officer fell, the inmate ran back out the front door, according to witnesses.
Witnesses said Davis did not appear to be in pain. They said even though he still had one of his crutches in his hand and was wearing a leg cast, he ran as if nothing was wrong with him.
"He didn't look like he was really hurt," said one witness. "He wasn't running like he was really hurt. I think he was faking it.''
Frank Novello was nearby when Davis walked towards the revolving door.
"As soon as he got to the revolving door he ended up dropping the crutch and hitting the officer with the other one, and then he just took off," Novello said. "He had a cast on his leg and everything."
What looked like a cast was really bandages, according to Cook County Jail officials. They say Davis had been brought to the hospital complaining of leg pains.
Witnesses who saw Davis run across the parking lot say he didn't look like he was in any pain.
Officers say the reason Davis had one crutch in his hand is because it was handcuffed to his arm. And they say he had been wearing hand cuffs and leg shackles earlier when he was transported to the hospital.
"At some point between registration and treatment the handcuffs and shackles were removed," said Tony Godinnez of the Cook County Dept. of Correction. "[We are] now in process of determining how and at what point shackles were removed and who ordered it."
Davis ran to a waiting van that contained two men and a woman.
Witnesses described the van as gray.
Police recovered hair, his shackles and jail uniform.
Four or five other people were taken in for questioning.
CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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