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Escaped prisoners caught in Eaton Rapids

By Rob South, WKAR

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-874777.mp3

EATON RAPIDS, MI –
Five prisoners who escaped from a Montcalm County work crew were re-captured in Eaton Rapids Tuesday afternoon. The prisoners violently beat a guard and stole a police van at around 1 p.m. Tuesday.

AUDIO:
A police helicopter circled the farm fields just north of Eaton Rapids today looking for the last of the inmates. A local police officer spotted the stolen van and followed it to an Eaton Rapids industrial park where the inmates fled on foot. Four of the men from Michigan's Carson City Correction facility were recaptured almost immediately. Police from several agencies searched for the fifth escapee for about an hour before he was caught. Russ Marlin is with the Michigan Department of corrections. "You know, it was a very quick, swift response, a coordinated response," he commented. "We're happy with the outcome of the prisoners being captured. But obviously it's very sad and disturbing what occured to our officer and our attention turns towards him at this time."

The guard is reported to be in serious condition at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing.

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