By Alan Gathright
The Rocky Mountain News
DENVER, Colo. — A Denver jail inmate escaped from a highway work crew Monday morning by driving off in white van marked with a Colorado Department of Transportation logo.
Gregory Kilcollins, 22, drove off in the van, which was towing an equipment trailer, about 9 a.m., after a CDOT employee supervising the three-inmate crew stopped at a northeast Denver tire shop to get a tire leak repaired, said sheriff’s Capt. Frank Gale, a jail spokesman.
Kilcollins was serving a 270-day sentence for possession of more than an ounce of marijuana.
Like all inmates allowed to work for outside government agencies, Kilcollins did not have a history of violence and was not deemed to be a threat to the public or an escape risk, Gale said.
Inmates also must serve several months of their jail sentence before they are eligible for outside work crews.
Kilcollins had been on the crew for about three weeks, doing cleanup work along state highways.
After the CDOT supervisor stopped at the tire shop and while he talked with a tire-repair person, two other inmates went inside to use the restroom.
“At some time point, the inmate got in the driver seat and just drove off,” Gale said.
Kilcollins was wearing a blue jail uniform, similar to medical scrubs.
Copyright 2007 Rocky Mountain News