Fill out this form to email this article to a friend
Youth escapes juvenile lockup
Another teen was captured as he climbed the fence of the Juvenile Detention Center, authorities say.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published February 17, 2006
A plot by two teenagers to escape the mid-county juvenile detention facility depended on an overflowing toilet distracting a guard, authorities said Thursday.
It wasn't a particularly sophisticated plan, but it worked.
One of the two, James L. Stephens-Davenport, 17, whom Pinellas sheriff's officials described as violent, escaped over a fence of the Juvenile Detention Center shortly before midnight on Wednesday. He was last seen running east from the facility, which is near the county jail, toward 49th Street.
Stephens-Davenport is described as a black youth with short dreadlocks, 6 feet tall, 140 pounds. He may be heading to Sarasota, where he has relatives, a sheriff's official said.
Officials with the Department of Juvenile Justice, which operates the detention center, would not release his criminal record, citing privacy laws.
The other teenager involved in the escape, Nicholas J. Harris, 15, of St. Petersburg was captured as he climbed the fence, authorities said. Harris, who was serving 21 days for aggravated battery, has been charged with attempted escape and battery on a detention officer.
Authorities gave these details of the escape, which unfolded at 11:43 p.m.:
A guard entered the teens' cell to fix the toilet. One of the youths pushed the guard inside, then both left the cell, locking it behind them.
They attacked a second guard, hitting him with a mop handle and stealing his key. The teens fled outside and began to scale the security fence. Deputies were called to the facility at 11:46 p.m. and began a search. One of the detention officers involved in the escape was taken to Northside Hospital for observation, while the second received first-aid treatment at the juvenile facility.
Records show no one has escaped that facility in the past three years, said Cynthia Lorenzo, a DJJ spokeswoman.
"This will be thoroughly investigated," she said.
[Last modified February 17, 2006, 02:15:35]
Share your thoughts on this story
|
News
Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
Print
Email story
Comment
Email editor
