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BWC: Fla. K-9 locates 4 escaped juveniles who strangled detention officer unconscious

The Deep Creek Youth Academy inmates assaulted an officer with a sock filled with a shower head; they then overpowered him, taking his keys and radio

By Joanna Putman
Corrections1

HASTINGS, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office released video footage showing a K-9 help capture four escaped juvenile inmates, WPBF reported.

The inmates had escaped from the Deep Creek Youth Academy in Hastings on Oct. 14, according to the report. The incident began when two inmates assaulted a detention officer using a sock filled with a shower head and a makeshift knife. The detention officer was overpowered and choked unconscious before the inmates took the detention officer’s keys and communication radio.

Three additional inmates joined the escape attempt, with four managing to leave the campus, according to the report. One inmate was unable to flee the facility.

Video shows a St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputy and a K-9, identified in a department Facebook post as K-9 Bane, searching a nearby brush area littered with several abandoned vehicles. The deputy identified himself after Bane alerted to one of the vehicles. All of the suspects were found inside.

The inmates now face charges that include aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, robbery with a weapon, false imprisonment, battery by strangulation, aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, unlawful use of a two-way communications device and escape from a residential commitment facility, according to the report.

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