A Smith County inmate was arrested after escaping from a jail transport vehicle Tuesday afternoon.
Smith County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Larry Christian said the inmate, Timothy Chappelle, was caught in the 1600 block of Wisteria Drive in Tyler. He escaped from the vehicle that was moving from the north jail to the downtown central jail facility.
Christian said a detention officer was stopped at Gentry Parkway and Parkdale when Chappelle kicked the passenger side window and broke the barricade.
Video shows Chappelle being arrested after jumping out of a window of a transport van, running on foot, and jumping a fence -- all while still handcuffed. After jumping that fence, he eventually broke into two homes in a nearby neighborhood.
"I’m blessed that nothing happened to my nephew or my brother and I’m just glad that somebody was here to watch over my house while I was at work," DeAndre Miller said.
His house was one of the two homes on Wisteria Drive that got broken into by the escaped inmate.
"I got over as soon as my brother called me to let me know what was going on with the house," Miller said.
No injuries were reported in both burglaries.
This all started when Chappelle was being transported from the north jail to the downtown central jail facility when he kicked the passenger side window and broke the barricade. It caught many eyewitnesses off-guard.
"The man just kicked the window out and he ran and after that the law stopped the car and parked it. He jumped out but he couldn’t catch him," Shay Henderson said.
She was inside Rockstar Nails with other guests, like Isis Davis, when they saw the whole thing unfold right in front of their eyes.
"He jumped out that van and started running. But we were just watching," Davis said.
Eventually Chappelle was arrested after leaving one of those homes.
Chappelle, of Killeen, was booked into the Smith County Jail on Dec. 26 for a criminal mischief worth between $2,500 and $30,000 charge in Lindale, according to jail records.
He will now also face charges of escaping custody and two counts of burglary of a home, Christian said.
His bonds now total $1.38 million on charges of criminal mischief, two counts of burglary and escaping custody while arrested or confined, according to jail records.