Deputy’s Jogging Pays Off in Pursuit
The endurance of a sheriff’s deputy who jogs daily proved too much for a kidnaping suspect who bolted from a courtroom.
Authorities said Johnnie Townsel fled while being returned to jail from court last week, racing down 16 flights of stairs, out a door and into the street.
“I’ve never seen anything so fast,” said Assistant County Atty. Robert Streitz. “One fluid movement and he was gone.”
Townsel nearly reached a nearby hotel before Deputy Todd Lundgren, assigned to the courtroom, caught him, officials said. Lundgren had nearly nabbed him in the stairwell, but his big chance came when the suspect reached the street and apparently tired.
Townsel is accused of kidnaping his ex-girlfriend from a city bus at gunpoint.
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