Police are searching for a highly dangerous convict who escaped custody while being transported to a maximum security psychiatric hospital.
David Watson, the man in custody, managed to escape into the woods Friday at about 9:45 a.m. while on his way to the maximum security Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, which is known as the forensic psychiatric hospital in Maryland, WTOP reports.
The escape happened as Watson was being transported from the vehicle to inside the hospital. How exactly the escape occurred is not clear at this time.
Watson is 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 140 pounds. He was last seen at Dorsey Run Road and Patuxent Range Road.
Howard County police have swarmed the region with K-9 units, in addition to a police helicopter.
Officers were transporting Watson to the forensic hospital stemming back to an incident in 2013, which is when Watson received a 106-year sentence for a shooting that took place at the home of a law enforcement officer.
He was also separately charged in the shootings on three law enforcement officers’ homes and subsequently found not competent to stand trial.
The Clifton T. Perkins center is a maximum security facility designed to keep members of the public safe while conducting assessments on defendants.
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