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Monday, Oct. 12, 2009

Wayne County jail escapee captured

A teenager who escaped from the jail in Wayne County early Monday after assaulting a female deputy didn't get far.

Police closed in on Jeremy Sescourka, 19, shortly before 1:30 p.m. in a field not more than 5 miles from the detention center, Maj. Darrell Foster, chief deputy at the jail, said.

"He was trying to get away, but the way we all swarmed in on him, he couldn't," Foster said.

Sescourka allegedly escaped about 4:35 a.m. when jail employees opened a cell door to perform a medical test on an inmate. Sescourka and another inmate, Joe Cook, darted out the cell door and into the nearby control room, where deputy Jailer Sherry Kelsay was alone, Foster said.

Sescourka allegedly punched Kelsay several times in the face and took her hostage, threatening her with a shank, a makeshift knife made in the jail, Foster said.

The inmates tried to open jail doors from the control room but couldn't. Sescourka, with one arm around Kelsay and the other holding the shank to her throat, then began dragging her toward a door, Foster said.

To free Kelsay, a supervisor opened a door to the outside. Sescourka went out but let the door close before Cook could get through, Foster said.

Police from several agencies and jail employees — aided by local residents' reported sightings — searched for Sescourka.

He was caught near a relative's house that he might have been trying to reach, Foster said.

Sescourka didn't have the homemade knife when he was caught, so it's not clear what it was fashioned from, Foster said.

Inmates can make crude knives from various materials, including plastic eating utensils.

Kelsay was treated at the Wayne County hospital but not admitted, Foster said.

Sescourka, who was being held on charges of rape, sodomy and escaping home detention, will be charged with escape and assault, Foster said.