A man charged with murder in the death of a sheriff escaped custody Tuesday morning while being transported in double-locked handcuffs and ankle irons, according to a release from The Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Jim Edward Lowery, 35, got the shackles off his legs, used them to break the widow of the patrol car and fled outside the Laurens County Jail in central Georgia, the GBI said. Pursuing deputies lost him in the woods. His handcuffs were later found in the roadway, still intact.
GBI says over 100 law enforcement officers from surrounding agencies are searching for Lowery, who was clad in an orange jumpsuit. Laurens County is about 135 miles south of Atlanta.
It took authorities 12 hours to capture Lowery in June, when he fled police in an automobile with a passenger, 36-year-old Dixie Best, CNN affiliate WTOC reported. Montgomery County Sheriff Ladson O’Connor crashed in the pursuit and was killed.
Best was quickly captured, but Lowery shot at officers as they approached, WTOC reported authorities as saying. Officers said they returned fire and wounded Lowery before they could arrest him.
Lowery was charged with murder in O’Connor’s death, felony murder and aggravated assault on a police officer.