WAHPETON, N.D. – A prisoner escaped from the Richland County Jail early Thursday after overpowering a guard, apparently with a metal part from a table, authorities said.
Charles Beeney, 39, was described as 5-foot-11, about 165 pounds, with blue eyes, long, dark hair and tattoos all over his body.
Authorities found a pickup reported missing north of Wahpeton, shortly before 9 a.m.
Richland County Sheriff Larry Leshovsky said the pickup apparently got stuck along a county road between Dwight and Abercrombie.
"He was trying to shovel himself out for a period of time, it looks like," the sheriff said. Authorities were notifying people in the area, he said.
Leshovsky said Beeney used a metal leg that he apparently had broken off a table as a weapon during the escape, and he said Beeney should be considered dangerous. The jail guard was not hurt, though he was held hostage briefly, the sheriff said.
"He was actually taken hostage with some type of weapon that was taken off a table," Leshovsky said. The prisoner "kind of held him as a hostage and ended up taking the keys away from him."
The sheriff said Beeney escaped about 2:30 a.m.
He was being held on a warrant from Kansas, and on Richland County charges after leading authorities on a chase that ended near Walcott a few weeks ago, the sheriff said.
Beeney was last seen wearing black and white jail pants with no shoes or shirt, but authorities said he stole two dark shirts and a pair of black shoes when he escaped.
Search dogs appeared to have picked up a scent on the west side of Wahpeton, and Leshovsky said Beeney might have stopped there to rest or hide briefly. He said authorities were checking out open garage doors and warning people not to leave their vehicles unlocked.
Lyle Nordick, who lives about six miles north of Wahpeton, said he came home at 7:30 a.m., and found a shed door open and his pickup gone.
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