SAN ANTONIO – Three male jail inmates who sheriff officials described as violent offenders, escaped the Bexar County Jail on Friday morning and were captured in just over an hour after the woman who police said was the getaway driver turned them in, law enforcement officials said.
Sheriff Javier Salazar said the men were in a recreation area around 10:40 a.m., when they cut a hole in some mesh that was 20 feet in the air and used bed sheets to get outside.
Video: Sheriff Javier Salazar news conference on jail escape
The inmates, identified as Jacob Brownson, Eric Trevino and Luis Arroyo, escaped through the front side of the jail and were spotted by jail visitors, who alerted sheriff officials, Salazar said.
The trio got into a getaway car driven by a woman (pictured, below), who San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said was an ex-girlfriend of the one of the escapees, drove them to the intersection of Blanco and Hildebrand and dropped them off at a Sonic to get some food.
The woman then called 911 and told a dispatcher where to find the trio, McManus said.
Salazar said an investigation will be launched to find out how the men planned and hatched their plan.
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"It's something that shouldn't be allowed to occur," he said.
Arroyo, Brownson and the woman are being questioned by sheriff's officials.
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Trevino was taken to University Hospital to be treated for a foot injury he sustained during the escape.
Formal charges against the four are pending.