By David Travis Bland
The State (Columbia, S.C.)
COLUMBIA, S.C. — An escaped inmate who had been on the run for two months was arrested last week after he carjacked a police vehicle, stole a second vehicle and led authorities on a high-speed chase that ended with a crash and guns drawn, police said.
Much of the incident was caught on police body camera video obtained by The State.
The body camera video of a Calhoun County sheriff’s deputy shows an intense scene unfolding July 17 when the escaped inmate is arrested at gunpoint following a car chase. The man arrested was Curtis Ray Green, who escaped from Orangeburg County Detention Center on May 19.
Before his arrest, Green stole an Orangeburg police vehicle and abandoned it in Calhoun County on the Caw Caw Highway bridge near Interstate 26, police say.
Armed with a silver pistol, Green went on to hold up another man who was working at a swimming pool supply store, according to an incident report. Green demanded the keys to the man’s vehicle. The victim dropped the keys on the ground and kick them toward Green. The white vehicle was reported stolen and officers were told to be on the lookout.
Green then drove by the cruiser he’d previous stolen, the incident report says. A Calhoun County sheriff’s deputy at the scene of the abandoned police vehicle on the Caw Caw Highway spotted a vehicle matching the description of the stolen car. The deputy said she saw a nervous looking black male in a hoodie driving the vehicle, who was later identified as Green. She pursued the white vehicle.
When the officer put on her lights to pull the vehicle over, the driver raced away on Interstate 26, the incident report said. A chase ensued. They reached 110 miles per hour, weaving in and out of traffic. Green raced on and off Interstate 26.
Orangeburg County deputies joined the chase and took the lead. Authorities pursued Green to an apartment complex parking lot. He crashed into an officer’s car before authorities swarmed in and arrested him. In the passenger seat of the white car, the cops found a silver pistol, according to the report.
The arrest came just under two months after Green and two other inmates overpowered and attacked an officer in the Orangeburg County detention center on May 19. Tyshon Johnson and Christopher Boltin were recaptured less than a week after the escape.
Green was in jail awaiting trial on a murder charge in the March 2015 killing of a man who was leaving for work in the early morning when he was shot, The Times and Democrat reported.
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©2018 The State (Columbia, S.C.)