MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — An inmate is back in custody following an hours-long manhunt in Murfreesboro on Wednesday afternoon.
The Benton County Sheriff's Office said 24-year-old Christopher Taylor was being transported to Bradley County for a parole violation on a drug charge when he escaped. While on Interstate 24, he allegedly began kicking out the windows of the squad car. The sheriff's office said there was then a scuffle between Taylor and a corrections officer over a Taser.
"All at once [Taylor] came through the window on [the corrections officer] and landed on the corrections officer and him still driving so he had to maintain the vehicle and get it off on the side of the road as well as try to fight with him. He pulled his Taser and tried to 'dry stun' him without deploying the leads on it. They was fighting while they was pulling over, and the corrections officer seen he had taken the taser from him," explained Kenny Christopher, Benton County sheriff. "[The corrections officer] cut the car off and took the keys with him so [Taylor] couldn't take the car, crawled out of the car and the inmate came after him. They began to fight on the side of the road and he told me at that point, a truck driver had stopped and pulled them away from each other and the inmate had taken possession of the Taser and was pointing it at the officer. He got him back up to his truck and that's when the inmate took off."
Taylor was able to break free with the Taser and run from the deputy near mile marker 81 and South Church Street. The Taser was later found in tall grass. The investigation, along with a nearby deadly crash, caused heavy traffic in the area on Interstate 24.
The sheriff's office said the corrections officer was minorly injured in the scuffle. Christopher said it was the officer's fourth month on the job.
Several law enforcement agencies then conducted a manhunt near Church Street.
Hours later, Taylor was found hiding in a storm drain in the woods behind the Knight's Inn on Church Street. He was captured not very far from where he escaped and was still shackled and cuffed.
Taylor is now facing additional charges of attempted carjacking, felony theft, aggravated assault and escape. He is being held at Rutherford County Adult Detention Center while awaiting a General Sessions Court hearing.
