Three weeks after his daring escape from a maximum-security prison with a fellow murderer, David Sweat was shot and captured Sunday near the Canadian border, ending a manhunt involving thousands of law enforcement officers and bringing relief to townspeople throughout upstate New York.
“We can sleep better tonight,” said Lynn Hosler, owner of Hosler’s Family Restaurant in the town of Malone.
When news of Sweat’s capture reached the restaurant on West Main Street, cheers broke out among the staff and customers.
“We were all just yelling like we were on an adrenaline high,” she said in a telephone interview. “And then we were glued to the TVs. We had on CNN, Fox News and any other news station we could find.”
She added, “It’s been a tough three weeks for us.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was also elated. “The nightmare is finally over,” he said at a televised news conference Sunday evening in Malone.
“Everyone goes home safe. The escapees have been dealt with, we couldn’t have a better ending. We wish it hadn’t happened in the first place,” he added.
Sweat, 35, was within two miles of the Canadian border when he was shot by a lone New York State Police sergeant on patrol northeast of the hamlet of Constable, officials said.
“I can only assume he was going for the border,” said New York State Police Supt. Joseph D’Amico at the news conference. “He was that close.”
Around 3:20 p.m., Sgt. Jay Cook, a 21-year veteran, spotted a man “basically jogging up along the side of the road,” pulled up alongside him, and said, “Hey, come over here,” D’Amico said. They were about 40 miles from where Sweat had escaped from prison in Dannemora.
Sweat at first ignored the officer, but when he turned around, Cook recognised him, and Sweat ran across a field toward a treeline, D’Amico said.
Fearing Sweat would make it to the treeline, Cook fired twice, and both rounds hit Sweat in the torso, D’Amico said.
Sweat was unarmed, and a photograph taken after his capture, obtained by CNN, showed him wearing dark-colored, possibly camouflage, clothing. His face and clothing were smeared with blood.
D’Amico defended the sergeant’s decision to shoot, pointing out that Sweat, who had been serving a prison sentence for killing a sheriff’s deputy, was a threat to the public.
“I couldn’t be prouder of him,” D’Amico said of Cook.
Cuomo added of Cook, “He was alone and it was a very courageous act…. Go home tonight and tell your daughters you’re a hero.”
The area where Sweat was captured is about six miles north of where Sweat’s partner and fellow escapee, Richard Matt, was shot and killed Friday.
The men had been missing from the Clinton Correctional Facility since June 6.
“Just what a relief,” Franklin County Sheriff Kevin Mulverhill told the Los Angeles Times. He added that county residents had been “on edge” since the manhunt began.
Television media showed that a crowd had gathered outside the Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone. Officials said Sweat was in stable condition.
Hosler, the restaurant owner, said, “I’m tired but I can’t imagine how the law enforcement officers are feeling now.”
The townspeople were very appreciative of the work that the state troopers, corrections officers and federal agents had done during the grueling search, she said.
She added that on several occasions during the manhunt, customers had paid for the meals of troopers eating at the restaurant as a way to show their appreciation.
At the Four Seasons Motel, also on West Main Street, manager Michael French expressed similar relief. “I feel a lot better now. I didn’t want to let my two young boys go outside. I was worried whether or not those guys were around.”
He also said he felt exhausted. His motel has been filled with federal agents and journalists, and his parking lot was where buses and vans dropped off and picked up corrections officers and police officers from other jurisdictions who were participating in the search.
“I would really love to get some sleep,” French said. His other wish was to have life in Malone return to normal. Asked what normal is, he responded: “Boring!”
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt, 48, was serving 25 years to life for killing and dismembering his former boss.
Matt and Sweat are said to have tricked correctional officers at the prison by making dummies and stuffing them into their beds the night they fled. They were discovered missing June 6 at a 5:30 a.m. bed check.
Authorities say the men used power tools to cut through metal and brick walls and pipes, then made their way via underground tunnels and pipes to a manhole a few hundred feet from the prison walls.
Cuomo said Sunday the men also discovered a toolbox that one of them broke into to use tools for their escape.
They emerged from the manhole and fled. D’Amico said Sunday that the men may have used pepper to help mask their scent from police dogs, which had trouble tracking the pair. “It was fairly effective,” D’Amico said.
Two prison employees have been arrested – one on suspicion of smuggling hacksaw blades and other tools to the inmates, the other on suspicion of promoting prison contraband and tampering with evidence. Both have pleaded not guilty.
*Culled from Los Angeles Times
