CRIME

Escaped prisoner found in drainage pipe after 6-day search

Associated Press
Published | Updated

This photo provided by the Howard County Police Department shows David Watson, who escaped from the grounds of a Maryland psychiatric hospital. Authorities said Watson was found hiding in a drainage pipe in Jessup, Md., on Wednesday, May 3, 3017. (Howard County Police Department via AP) (The Associated Press)

This photo provided by the Howard County Police Department shows the drainage pipe where authorities found David Watson hiding Wednesday, May 3, 3017, in Jessup, Md. Watson escaped from the grounds of a Maryland psychiatric hospital. (Howard County Police Department via AP) (The Associated Press)

This photo released by the Howard County Police Department shows David M. Watson, who escaped from the custody of the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup, Md. Wicomico County Department of Corrections Director George Kaloroumakis said Friday, April 28, 2017, Watson, an inmate from Delaware, was being taken to the hospital for an evaluation, but he escaped in the hospital's parking lot. Authorities are searching for him. (Howard County Police Department via AP) (The Associated Press)

Authorities say a prisoner who escaped from a Maryland psychiatric hospital was found hiding in a drainage pipe a half-mile away after a six-day search.

Howard County Police Chief Gary Gardner said at a news conference Thursday that officers using night-vision equipment found 28-year-old David Watson on Wednesday night after a sighting nearby. Watson was serving more than 100 years in Delaware for a drive-by shooting that put bullet holes in an officer's house.

Gardner says Watson resisted slightly as he was pulled from the pipe.

The search began Friday when officials say Watson freed himself from restraints and escaped from the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center parking lot.

Gardner says investigators believe the escape was spontaneous and Watson stayed within a 2-mile radius. He told police he ate from trashcans and drank from puddles.