By Glenn Puit
The Daily Independent
MORGAN COUNTY, Ky. — An escaped inmate who attempted to hitchhike a ride Tuesday on U.S. Highway 64 flagged down the wrong motorist — an officer of the law.
Greenup County Jailer Mike Worthington said Allen Lewis, 31, of Grassy Creek, had completed his sentence in the Greenup County Detention Center on local charges and was being transferred by a Morgan County transport officer to the Rowan County Detention Center for some temporary housing on Tuesday evening. Morgan County took possession of the inmate because he faces local charges there. Lewis complained that his handcuffs hurt and the Morgan County officer stopped the vehicle to fix the inmate’s cuffs at a location near the Carter/Greenup County border along the Industrial Parkway.
“When one of the cuffs were released a struggle started, he got loose and fled on foot,” Worthington said.
Officers conducted extensive searches of wooded areas off the Industrial Parkway.
“We got a dog from Boyd County...searching where we had lost the tracks and they started tracking him, and we tried to cut off all his avenues,” Worthington said.
Turns out, Worthington said, Lewis was able to make it all the way to Highway 64 where he started hitchiking. A motorist stopped and checked on the man’s well-being.
“It was a campus police officer,” Worthington said, noting the officer was an employee of Morehead State University.
The officer noticed the handcuffs hanging off one of Lewis’s wrists. Lewis was taken back to jail and he now faces an escape charge.
“He thought he was getting a ride, and he did,” Worthington said.