MALONE, N.Y. — The second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape three weeks ago from a maximum-security prison in northern New York was shot and captured near the Canadian border on Sunday, two days after his fellow
MALONE, N.Y. — The second of two convicted murderers who staged a brazen escape three weeks ago from a maximum-security prison in northern New York was shot and captured near the Canadian border on Sunday, two days after his fellow inmate was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement, state police said.
A trooper shot David Sweat in the town of Constable, about 2 miles south of the Canadian border and 30 miles northwest of the prison, after spotting a suspicious person walking down a road Sunday afternoon, state police said. Sweat was taken into police custody and transported to a hospital for treatment of his injuries, they said. His condition was not immediately known.
State police did not immediately say why the trooper fired at Sweat or whether he was armed. CNN broadcast a photo it said was of Sweat, his hands behind his back, with blood smeared on his face and soaking his dark clothing. Fellow escaped inmate Richard Matt was armed when he was killed Friday afternoon during an encounter with border patrol agents after failing to respond to an order to raise his hands.
According to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., federal law enforcement said Sweat was shot twice and coughing up blood as he was taken to a hospital. He said no officers were believed to be injured.
Matt and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and emerged from a manhole outside the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora on June 6.
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff’s deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss. They were added to the U.S. Marshals Service’s 15 Most Wanted fugitives list two weeks after getting away.
The search for the escaped killers was initially concentrated around the prison and a rural community where search dogs had caught the scent of both men. The search had since been expanded to neighboring counties, and, while authorities said there was no evidence the men had gotten out of the general area, they conceded they could have been almost anywhere.
“It’s a little unnerving, him being so close,” Constable resident Trevor Buchanan said Sunday. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
In nearby Malone, Cathy Leffler cheered outside Alice Hyde Medical Center as an ambulance transporting Sweat left the hospital escorted by police vehicles. Jeffrey Gordon, a spokesman for Albany Medical Center, said Sweat was being transferred there.
“I feel like I can sleep tonight,” Leffler said. “Life can go back to normal. It’s over now.”
She said she had to come to the hospital to “see it through.”
“This has been going on for three weeks and our town was in an uproar and we haven’t been able to sleep. This is a relief for the town of Malone.”
The manhunt broke open Friday afternoon when a person towing a camper heard a loud noise and thought a tire had blown. Finding there was no flat, the driver drove eight miles before looking again and finding a bullet hole in the trailer. A tactical team responding to the scene of the shot smelled gunpowder inside a cabin and saw evidence that someone had fled out the back door.
A noise — perhaps a cough — ultimately did Matt in. A border patrol team discovered Matt, who was shot after failing to heed a command to raise his hands. He was shot three times in the head, according to an autopsy.
A coroner who attended the autopsy said Matt was clean, well-fed and dressed for the elements at the time he was killed.
A pair of prison workers has been charged in connection with the inmates’ escape.
Prosecutors said Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop instructor who got close to the men while working with them, had agreed to be their getaway driver but backed out because she felt guilty for participating. Authorities also said Mitchell had discussed killing her husband, Lyle Mitchell, as part of the plot.
Joyce Mitchell pleaded not guilty June 15 to charges including felony promoting prison contraband, which authorities said included hacksaw blades and chisels.
Authorities said the men had filled their beds in their adjacent cells with clothes to make it appear they were sleeping when guards made overnight rounds. On a cut steam pipe, the prisoners left a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words “Have a nice day.”
Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said the inmates apparently used tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night’s work.
On June 24, authorities charged Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct. Officials said he gave the two prisoners the frozen hamburger meat Joyce Mitchell had used to hide the tools she smuggled to Sweat and Matt. Palmer’s attorney said he had no knowledge that the meat contained hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver.
