A Washington Parish Jail inmate was critically injured Monday (August 4) afternoon after jumping out of a Bogalusa Police Department transport vehicle on Highway 10.
The incident occurred at approximately 2 p.m. on Highway 10 near the intersection with Choctaw Road, in the center of Washington Parish.
According to law enforcement sources, the inmate had been picked up at the Washington Parish jail earlier in the day and transported to Bogalusa for a court appearance.
After the court appearance, the inmate was being returned to the jail in a Bogalusa Police Department transport vehicle.
Officials were mum on how the restrained inmate managed to escape from the vehicle, but it apparantly occurred as the transport vehicle was moving at a “highway speed”, according to a law enforcement source.
The 911 dispatcher received a call about the escape attempt and dispatched an ambulance to the scene. Callers reported that a man in an orange jail jumpsuit was unconscious and lying in the roadway.
EMS personnel took the severely injured inmate to the emergency room at Riverside Medical Center in Franklinton. After initial treatment he was transported by helicpopter to North Oaks hospital in Hammond, where he remained in critical condition.
The Bogalusa Police Department did not release the name of the injured inmate and no information was provided as to how an inmate was able to exit a moving transport vehicle.
The investigation of the incident is being handled by the Louisiana State Police and they are expected to provide further information as the investigation proceeds.
