Knoxville News-Sentinel
CARYVILLE, Tenn. — An inmate who escaped from the Sevier County jail in December led police in Caryville on a brief car chase before fleeing on foot Saturday evening, according to authorities.
Police said Calvin Junior McMahan, 45, who was in jail on a child support violation when he escaped, was with a woman in a red Jeep Cherokee on Saturday when he backed up to a log splitter at the Lowe’s hardware store in LaFollette, cut the cables and left with the machine about 7:15 p.m.
Caryville Police Detective Sgt. Freddy Walker said he spotted the vehicle shortly afterward and pursued it as it turned the wrong way down Old Tennessee Highway 63.
McMahan continued driving the Jeep the wrong way on Pearl Street when the log splitter tipped on its side and the Jeep began dragging it down the street, police said. He then turned onto Tennessee Street, where McMahan stopped the car, got out and ran over a hill, according to authorities.
Officers from six agencies, including a K9 unit from the LaFollette Police Department, looked for McMahan for about three hours, Walker said.
Barbara Jean Kersting, 36, of Sevierville, surrendered at the vehicle, which is registered to her. She faces charges of theft of property over $1,000 and possession of burglary tools.
McMahan escaped from a minimum-security jail in Sevier County on Dec. 8, when he and two other inmates overpowered a guard. The other inmates were caught three days later at a Pigeon Forge motel.
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