By Teddy Kulmala
The State (Columbia, S.C.)
ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SC — A disturbance in two pods at the Orangeburg County detention center preceded the weekend escape of three inmates, including two accused killers, who overpowered an officer and broke out of the jail.
The new details about the escape came during a Wednesday press conference about the arrest of Tyshon Johnson, an accused killer who was arrested Tuesday at a gas station in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Johnson, 27, was found Tuesday afternoon driving a Ford Explorer that had been stolen out of Virginia, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said. Marshals saw Johnson reach into the back seat of the SUV as they approached.
Johnson was reaching for a .22-caliber rifle, but was unable to get it, Ravenell said. He and two other inmates — 20-year-old Curtis Green and 27-year-old Christopher Boltin — escaped Saturday night from the jail, which is located about 40 miles south of Columbia.
Details about how and where Johnson got the car and gun were not made available.
Ravenell, whose office does not oversee the detention center, said deputies initially were unable to enter the jail because of a “disturbance” going on in two of the pods. That disturbance involved a control room in the jail and led to between 10 and 15 inmates getting out of their cells in the pods, which investigators believe “was part of the plan” by inmates to escape, Ravenell said.
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After gaining control of the pods, deputies went in and conducted head counts and realized the three inmates were missing, Ravenell said.
Several inmates were determined to be behind the escape attempt. Inmate Otis Woodwine, whom Ravenell described as “the main player” behind the escape, is charged with first-degree assault and battery and two counts of aiding an escape, the sheriff said.
He assaulted the officer during the attempt and tried to get out; however, the electrical malfunctions that apparently allowed the inmates to escape ended up trapping Goodwine in the facility.
Inmate Roosevelt Johnson, who is charged with two counts of aiding an escape, distracted the officer and placed items in some of the cell doors so that they doors wouldn’t close, Ravenell said.
Tyrell Huggins, who is charged with attempted escape, made it out of his pod but couldn’t make it out of the fence surrounding the jail becasue of the electrical malfunction, Ravenell said. He was stuck outside for nearly two hours until the electrical issues were resolved.
One of the three inmates who successfully escape, Christopher Boltin, 27, was found Sunday in Lexington County.
Ravenell said Boltin injured his foot on some barbed wire during the escape. Investigators learned that, just 54 minutes after he broke out of jail, he stole a pair of shoes from a woman’s home nearby. Boltin’s father helped him after the escape and faces charges.
The sheriff had strong words for anyone who may be helping or thinking about helping Green.
“You might as well just bring yourself on in,” he said. “I would personally put you in the same cell they escaped from when we finish our investigation. This is not a game. This is a murderer that is running loose.”
Johnson is one of three people charged with fatally shooting a 24-year-old man and injuring two others during a September 2017 armed robbery, The Times and Democrat reported last year.
State agents and U.S. Marshals have assisted Orangeburg County deputies and local police in the search.
There already was an increased presence in Marshals around Orangeburg after an exchange of gunfire with shooting suspect Derian James last week, which put the S.C. State University campus on lockdown, according to Tom Griffin, U.S. Marshal for the South Carolina district. Since then, Griffin has reassigned Marshals from the Columbia and Charleston areas to Orangeburg to look for James and Green.
“These two individuals are going be met with an overwhelming presence of law enforcement officers,” he said. “They will have an option of surrendering peacefully ... or it could end very badly.”
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©2018 The State (Columbia, S.C.)