The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office released pulse-pounding footage Thursday of the capture of four youths who escaped from a Hastings juvenile detention facility on Monday.
The video shows a police dog named Bane leading several deputies to a pair of abandoned cars in a thickly vegetated area roughly two miles from Deep Creek Academy.
Both vehicles had dark tinted windows, making it impossible to see inside.
The K-9 then zeroes in on one of the two vehicles, leading a deputy to tell his colleagues to train their guns on the car and to avoid potential crossfire.
An officer then opens up the front passenger side to the vehicle, revealing one of the four escapees.
The dog latches into the screaming teen as he crawls to the ground before releasing its bite and allowing deputies to apply handcuffs.
Another deputy then breaks the rear passenger side window, and all three of the teens are eventually dragged out of the vehicle, placed on the ground and handcuffed.
SJSO released further details of their escape from the facility.
Two of the youths allegedly attacked a guard with a sock containing a shower head and a shank before choking him unconscious.
They were joined by three other inmates, but one failed to make it off the property.
SJSO revealed some of the prior crimes committed by the escapees that landed them at the facility.
These included possession of a gun at school, battery on a school employee, battery on a law enforcement officer, armed burglary, grand theft auto, and battery with a deadly weapon.
They are now facing a raft of new charges stemming from their flight, including battery with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, battery by strangulation and escape from a commitment facility.
“This was a first-class operation to protect our citizens conducted by numerous SJSO personnel from several divisions and units and I am proud to be their Sheriff,” Sheriff Robert Hardwick said in a statement.
He said the facility will assess the circumstances of the escape to avoid a recurrence.
“The message is clear: we will not tolerate this in our community, and we will respond in force to protect our citizens,” he said. “These inmates picked the wrong county.”
2 Responses
Proud of sjsco
It’s good in all but how did they escape? Who is at fault, hope Hardwick will explain that so changes can be made.