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Police searched more than two hours after an inmate escaped from custody while being taken for medical treatment Monday night, but the Fort Wayne man apparently made a clean getaway.
Deandre Armour, 26, was handcuffed and in leg shackles when he left the Kosciusko County Jail about 8:30 p.m. Armour was riding in the front seat of a Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department transport van when he was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital with high blood pressure and an increased heart rate.
Jail officer William Sherwin said Armour was bent over in the front seat during the ride to KCH. When they arrived at the hospital, Armour reportedly struck Sherwin with the van door when Sherwin approached the passenger side to remove Armour from the vehicle.
Sherwin was reportedly spun around and knocked down when the door was pushed open into him. Armour, who somehow got out of the leg shackles, ran down the ramp outside the emergency room entrance and fled southbound from the hospital. Armour was still handcuffed when he escaped. Sherwin was not injured.
A K-9 track picked up an initial trail, but that effort was not successful. Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine said it is believed Armour, who was being held for Whitley County authorities for a Columbia City bank robbery, had an accomplice in the escape.
Searches of the area also were conducted by officers from Warsaw Police Department, Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department and Indiana State Police.
Armour was being held in the KCJ since December. He is a black male, 6 feet tall and weighs 175 pounds. He has short black hair, a goatee and a mustache. He was wearing a white shirt and jail pants at the time. Police believe Armour will return to the Fort Wayne area.
Anyone with information on Armour's whereabouts should contact the KCSD at 267-5667. Rovenstine said he would also like to hear from any residents living near the hospital who might have seen Armour running from the area.
