Inmate slips out of shackles, handcuffs and jumps from moving car
By TONY BARTELME
The Post and Courier
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Last fall, Adam Lee Longa escaped from the Dorchester County Jail by lingering after a Bible study class on “The Purpose Driven Life” and sneaking out through a space above the ceiling.
Early Monday morning, Longa escaped again. This time, he slipped out of his handcuffs and leg shackles and leaped from a moving patrol car.
Dorchester County Sheriff Ray Nash was said to have dubbed Longa “Houdini” for his latest getaway. Deputies used tracking dogs and searched homes Monday but came up empty-handed.
Longa, 29, is white and has a thin mustache and close-cropped hair. He was last seen wearing black-and-white striped jail garb, an orange T-shirt, gray socks and no shoes.
Longa escaped about 2:40 a.m.
Monday, officials said.
Earlier in the evening, Longa hit his head during a fall inside his jail cell and was taken to Trident Medical Center, where doctors used medical staples to close the wound, said Sgt. Michael Miller, the sheriff’s public information officer.
Before the return trip to the jail, deputies placed Longa in handcuffs, a belly chain and leg shackles, Miller said. But as the deputies’ patrol vehicle neared the community of Dorchester, Longa managed to free himself, kick out the rear window and scramble from the still-moving car.
Deputies brought in dogs and focused on an area near the split of U.S. Highways 78 and 178. They searched a home near Highway 78 after authorities got a tip from some hunters. But about 2 p.m., deputies began scaling back their search, pinning their hopes on a tip from the public.
Authorities asked people to call 873-5111 or 911 if they have any information about Longa’s whereabouts.
On Nov. 5, Longa was being held on charges of first-degree burglary, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and resisting arrest when he attended a Bible study class on “The Purpose Driven Life” led by volunteers from a local church. When the other inmates returned to their cells, Longa stayed in the break room.
He crawled through the ceiling, peeled back the metal siding and jumped off the roof.
Florence County deputies picked him up a month later at a hotel staying under an assumed name. Dorchester deputies later arrested a 22-year-old woman on charges that she helped Longa get out of the area.
After the escape, Nash said Longa would be considered a maximum security prisoner with no privileges.
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