A man who escaped from a Lowndes County Sheriff”s squad car by rolling down an unlocked window was recaptured after a lengthy search Friday.
Mario Sykes, 30, of Columbus, had been arrested earlier that day in the county on a felony charge of taking a motor vehicle. He also had an outstanding warrant with the Columbus Police Department for a felony charge of shoplifting.
Chief Deputy Greg Wright said Deputy Darrell Nabors was taking Sykes to the county jail in a newer model Ford Crown Victoria, one of two just in, when he escaped on Airline Road between Highway 69 and the county justice court.
Nabors, peering through one of the car mirrors, spotted Sykes hanging out of a back window, Wright said.
Sykes had apparently rolled down a window, which should have been deactivated, Wright said. From there, he was able to shift his cuffed hands to his front and through the window to open the door from the outside.
Nabors stopped the car but was unable to prevent the escape or recapture Sykes.
Teams from the police and sheriff”s departments quickly set up a perimeter and began looking for Sykes, even calling in the K9 search and rescue team.
He was eventually found hiding in the woods near the Columbus Fairgrounds and was taken into custody without further incident.
Wright said the sheriff”s department had assumed the rear windows had been deactivated before the new cars arrived, but that assumption may have been wrong.
“That”s something we”re looking into,” he said.
The new cars, one of which was used over the weekend, will be examined Monday, Wright added.
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