Four captured after breakout at Queen St. jail

Call it a copycat crime, but today there was another jailbreak, this time from the detention area at the Queen Street Police Station. At two-fifteen this afternoon four prisoners broke for freedom after it is believed their cell door was accidentally left open. The four are Jeffrey Flowers, Leonel Sampson, Ronald Reyes, and Francis Petillo. According to witnesses, Sampson and Flowers sprinted in the direction of the Swing Bridge, but they were stopped by alert plainclothes officers on North Front Street. Within a half hour, Reyes and Petillo had been similarly rounded up. The only casualty in the exercise was a broken window in a police van used to carry the prisoners back to the station. It was shattered during a fight between a cop and prisoner. Three of the escapees were on remand except for Reyes, who had been granted bail but couldn’t meet it. Flowers is up on charges of murder and attempted murder, Petillo robbery and attempted murder, while Sampson is accused of aggravated assault.