WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. — An inmate at Washington County Hospital escaped while undergoing treatment Tuesday afternoon, but his game of hide and seek ended only a few hours when the sheriff's office found him hiding in a tree, Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran says.
In a Facebook post, the sheriff's office says George Vincent, 49, escaped from the hospital in Sandersville. He was originally arrested last Thursday for trespassing and crossing guard lines with weapons after an incident at Washington State Prison in Davisboro.
While it's not the first time an inmate attempted to break for it from the hospital, the sheriff says it is by no means a regular occurrence.
"It's not a regular offense with us locally at the Washington County Jail," Washington County Sheriff Joel Cochran said. "But I mean, it is always challenging when you have to take an inmate from a secure facility to any place else that is not a secure facility."
Cochran says the escape took place at around 3:15 p.m. as Vincent was about to be released from the hospital.
As part of his evaluation, they had to remove Vincent's restraint which he used to make a break for it. As soon as he escaped, Cochran said it became an all-hands-on-deck situation with local and state law enforcement searching for him.
"Its very important to say that the incident took place within a matter of minutes. All of our local law enforcement was on the ground," Cochran said. "It was great cooperation between law enforcement on a local and state level."
Eventually, a canine would lead them to the tree Vincent was hiding in, which Cochran said was just across the street from the hospital.
Vincent would be arrested and brought back into custody at around 5 p.m. marking the end of his time on the run.
It is not the first time that an inmate has attempted to make a break for it from Washington County Hospital.
Back in April, an inmate at Washington State Prison was shot and killed by a guard after attempting to escape from the hospital. The inmate, 31-year-old Jacob Henson of Canton, had gotten into a fight with an inmate and was being treated at Washington County Hospital, the GBI said at the time.
But while in the hospital, they say Henson grabbed a guard's pepper spray and then used it on another guard.
They say that the guard became incapacitated and, while confronting the second officer, he pepper sprayed them. That's when the GBI says the guard then fired their gun and shot and killed Henson.
That case is still under investigation.