York County sheriff investigating how inmate could escape custody for 11 minutes
A York County jail inmate escaped from the custody of detention officers for more than 10 minutes Thursday before he was taken back into custody, officials said.
The escape has prompted an internal review because the incident was caused by human error, said York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson and Trent Faris, spokesman for the sheriff’s office.
The inmate escaped from custody around 12:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon while being driven back to the York County Detention Center in York from a medical appointment, Tolson said. The escape happened between Rock Hill and York off S.C. 5, Tolson said.
The inmate had leg irons and handcuffs on, and was wearing standard jail issued clothing, Tolson said.
Sheriff’s office K-9 teams and patrol deputies were immediately sent to search the area and found the inmate on Osteen Road, Tolson said.
He had been gone for 11 minutes, Tolson said,
It remains unclear how the inmate was able to escape from the transport team and vehicle. Details about the vehicle, number of officers involved in transport, and if the vehicle was locked, have not been released.
“While we have multiple layers of security measures in place to minimize the potential and possibility of an inmate escaping from custody, human error was the primary cause of this unfortunate incident,” Tolson said in a statement to The Herald. “Thankfully, with detention staff providing quick information and the speedy response from our deputies, we were able to swiftly put an end to this escape attempt.”
Under South Carolina law, the sheriff’s office operates the county jail and is responsible for transporting inmates.
The internal review into the escape and sheriff’s office employee procedures during the incident remains ongoing, Faris said. The names of the detention officers involved in the incident have not been released.
The inmate now could face charges related to the escape.
