A man awaiting trial in Harford County and wanted in five other states escaped from the custody of the Harford County Detention Center early Wednesday.
As the day wore on, Terrance Kassis Washington, 31, originally from New Orleans, remained at large, said Lt. Jim Eyler, a spokesman for the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the detention center.
“The matter of how he escaped is still under investigation,” Eyler said.
Shortly before 3 a.m. Wednesday, Washington began complaining that he was coughing up blood, Eyler said. He said correctional officers handcuffed and shackled Washington, placed him in the caged backseat of a detention center transport car and rushed him to the Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air.
Eyler said that when correctional officers arrived at the hospital and opened the back of the car, Washington rushed out of the vehicle and ran into a nearby wooded area. Neither of the two deputies assigned to the transport were injured, nor did they violate any procedures in the transport, Eyler said.
Eyler would not comment on how Washington freed himself from the shackles.
Wanted in Ohio, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri and Louisiana on multiple counts of car theft, armed robbery, burglary and fleeing and eluding police, Washington is considered dangerous but not armed. He was awaiting trialin Harford on charges of assault, malicious destruction of property and theft, Eyler said.
He said this was the first time an inmate had escaped while being transported by the detention center.
The search for Washington encompassed most of the county, with police paying special attention to an attempted carjacking on Poole Road in Darlington about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The woman involved in the attempted carjacking was not injured.
Police combed the woods around Poole Road until Wednesday afternoon. However, Eyler said, “In all probability [Washington] had fled the county.”
Bel Air Police were also involved, having received a call at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday for a stolen maroon Ford F-350 pick up truck ? MD registration 80S125 -? from a neighborhood about a mile away from where Washington escaped.
Bel Air Police Deputy Chief Armand Dupre said the owner of the truck, who left the truck unlocked and with the keys in it, was woken by his dog to see his truck drive away.
Police say an eyewitness also saw a late model yellow Toyota Celica leaving the rear of the Bel Air Home Depot, which is on the other side of the wooded area Washington escaped into. However, Eyler said there was no indication that Washington had been aided in his escape.
Washington is black, with a light complexion, 5 feet 7 inches and of medium build. He has a tattoo of a gun on his abdomen.
Eyler said he removed the white-and-black striped detention center shirt while running from the hospital.
Anyone who sees Washington is advised to contact 911 immediately.
Don Morrison, spokesman for Harford County Public Schools, said because Washington was at large, Bel Air High and Middle, and Homestead and Wakefield elementary schools were placed on lockdown to prevent entry.
