By Abbie Bennett
The News & Observer
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — An inmate who escaped from the Davidson County Detention Center after assaulting a female guard has turned himself in, according to the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.
Law enforcement officers had been searching for Benjamin Lee Small, 23, of Thomasville, who escaped from the detention center at about 10:20 p.m. June 17, according to the sheriff’s office. Small was considered dangerous, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Small turned himself in just before 5 p.m. Friday at Bill’s Truck Stop, 1210 Snider Kines Road in Linwood, after hours of negotiations through his attorney, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.
Small was arrested on warrants for the charges of first-degree kidnapping, common-law robbery, assault inflicting serious injury on a detention officer and escape from a local jail.
Small was taken before a magistrate where he was given a $5-million secured bond. He was returned to the Davidson County Detention Center and was scheduled to appear in Lexington District Court on Saturday.
During his escape, Small allegedly assaulted a female detention officer, causing serious injuries. During the assault, the sheriff’s office said, Small took the officer’s keys and other items.
The sheriff’s office said Small hid in a lockdown cell on June 17 and used a showerhead in a sock to attack officer Roxanne Powell, who was hospitalized for black eyes, swelling and possible facial fractures.
Small fled through a kitchen and slipped through a fence in an alley, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detention officers chased Small but did not catch him.
Small had been convicted of several crimes in Guilford and Davidson counties, including: misdemeanor wanton injury to property in 2013, misdemeanor larceny in 2015, felony breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny and felony larceny in 2017, according to state records. He was in the Davidson jail on the felony breaking and entering and larceny convictions, according to the Department of Public Safety’s offender database.
———
©2017 The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)