Six inmates escape from prison bus

If you live on the south side of Belize City be careful who you let in your house tonight and if you’re driving don’t pick up any hitchhikers. The reason? Some dangerous men are on the loose. Sometime around two-thirty this afternoon seven inmates being transported from Belize City to the prison in Hattieville made a daring escape when they overpowered the bus driver as the vehicle passed by mile one and a half on the Western Highway. In an off camera interview, that driver, Ewart Wade, told News Five that he was carrying a total of ten prisoners when he suddenly felt a blow to the back of his head. Wade says that immediately after he was attacked he applied the brakes, then fell to the floor, bleeding profusely. Wade says despite the injury, he was able to notice that some of the prisoners made their escape by jumping through the windows of the bus. As some of the inmates got away, other prisoners were struggling with the four police officers who were on board at the time of the incident. It was during this struggle that one police officer named Myvette received an injury to his eye. While three of the inmates remained in the bus and one who left was captured, the six who managed to escape have been identified as Carlton Lord, Robert Hill, Edwin Vanegas, Allan Orellano Perdomo, Manuel Williams, and Michael Faux. This evening Police Press Officer G. Michael Reid told News Five that authorities believe the prisoners are still in the St. Martin De Porres area of Belize City.

G. Michael Reid, Police Press Officer
?Police are advising all people to be on the lookout and to be aware of folks that they pick up who are out there. We believe these prisoners might be attempting to flee the city.?

Jacqueline Woods
?Do you know if these prisoners are in handcuffs??

G. Michael Reid
?No. It is not a part of the policy of the department to handcuff or secure prisoners on modes of transportation, busses, boats etcetera. In the event that some accident should occur, these prisoners have to be able to secure their own safety.?

Jacqueline Woods
?Should we consider these prisoners armed and dangerous??

G. Michael Reid
?They should be considered dangerous. They weren?t armed at the time of the escape because certainly they were searched before leaving the Queen Street compound. We do know that a few of these prisoners do have accomplices in the street and that they do know people who might assist them, so they must be considered dangerous, a couple more so than others. At this point the police are out on the streets and we are hoping that they will be captured before.?

The escaped men were incarcerated for the following offences. Robert Hill was convicted of the murder of Becky Gilharry in February of 1999. Hill served no time for the murder, however, because the Appeals Court ordered a retrial and he was acquitted. Hill did received twenty-seven years in jail for three separate robberies committed in Orange Walk on March twentieth, twenty-fifth, and twenty-seventh of this year.

This news just in… Police have informed News Five that three of the inmates have been recaptured. They are Michael Faux, Manuel Williams, and Allan Orellano Perdomo.