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Video Shows Inmates Escaping New Orleans Prison in Daring Jail Break
- Seven of the 10 escaped inmates have been captured after they were discovered missing from the Orleans Justice Center hours after pulling a sliding cell door off its track while a guard was getting food.
By Marco Cartolano
Source The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
Newly released police body and dashcam footage shows the moment two men who escaped the Orleans Parish jail were apprehended by Texas authorities on Monday.
In a Facebook post, the Huntsville Police Department shared two videos allegedly showing officers taking Leo Tate Sr., 31, and Jermaine Donald, 42, into custody following a chase in Walker County, north of Houston.
Tate and Donald are two of the 10 men believed to have escaped the New Orleans jail May 16. On the same day, Baton Rouge police announced the arrest of fellow escapee Lenton Vanburen Jr.
The Texas Department of Public Safety received information Tate and Donald were in the Huntsville area, and the duo fled when authorities caught up with them, according to Huntsville police.More on OFFICER.com
New Orleans Jail Worker Arrested in Connection with Escape of 10 Inmates
- Six inmates from the New Orleans prison are still on the loose after a jail employee allegedly cut off water to a cell where inmates pulled out a toilet and climbed through a hole in the wall.
One dashcam video shows a white van exiting the highway on an off-ramp while being pursued by multiple law enforcement vehicles.
The bodycam footage, released by Huntsville Police, shows the van stopped on the side of the street with a state trooper vehicle blocking the van's left side while multiple armed law enforcement agents surround the car.
The people inside the vehicle are instructed by officers to move to the right side of the vehicle and open the right side door.
A man police identified as Tate responded with, "I'm not opening, are you kidding," before officers pulled him out of the vehicle through the open passenger window and placed him on the ground.
Police instructed the other man, who they identified as Donald, to unlock the top-right door, put the car in park and crawl out.
While the door is opened, police appear to drag Donald out of the vehicle and place him on the ground before checking the vehicle and cuffing him.
The two were reportedly arrested on U.S. Route 190 near Geneva, Texas, with the aid of the Walker County Sheriff's Office, US Marshals, Huntsville police and Texas DPS, Huntsville police said.
In addition to the outstanding warrants, Texas DPS issued a warrant for Donald on a count of evading a law enforcement vehicle.
Murder charges
Before the escape, Tate was in jail facing charges of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder in connection with a 7th Ward double shooting in 2018, which killed 19-year-old Alexis Banks and hospitalized a teen.
Donald was most recently charged in December 2023 with second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a felon.
As of Tuesday afternoon, two escapees remain at large — Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey.
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