NEW HANOVER COUNTY — An inmate escaped while being transported from Columbus County to the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Detention Center on Thursday afternoon.
According to a release from the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office, the inmate jumped from the transport van around 3:30 p.m. The Columbus sheriff’s deputy dispatched for backup from both New Hanover and Brunswick counties.
New Hanover Sheriff’s Office established a perimeter to begin the search for the inmate and located him. The inmate’s name has not been released and no further information has been provided regarding details of the incident.
Columbus County Sheriff Bill Rogers released a statement:
“While this is certainly not the outcome, we expect when transporting someone in our custody, I want to especially commend the outstanding response from the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office. Their quick response resulted in the inmate being back in custody before additional personnel from Brunswick County and Columbus County even arrived on scene. That is exactly the kind of partnership we value between neighboring law enforcement agencies. I want to personally thank Sheriff McMahon and the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Deputies for being there when we needed them. I also appreciate Sheriff [Brian] Chism and the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office and our own personnel who immediately responded to assist. I have a responsibility to look at what occurred. A thorough review will be conducted to ensure our procedures were followed. I will address anything that needs changing in our current inmate transport procedures.”
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