LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Tenn.— A prisoner who escaped a Franklin County, Tennessee Sheriff’s deputy earlier this afternoon is now once again in the custody of Tennessee law enforcement officials.
At around 1:00 p.m., Rodney L. Reid apparently stole a Franklin County Sheriff’s Department patrol car—complete with weapons—parked at Exit 42 on Interstate 40. The late-model Dodge Charger was then the source of a hunt that put law enforcement agencies across West Tennessee on alert before being spotted headed towards Ripley, TN on Highway 19 in Lauderdale County.
Shortly after dispatchers broadcast the bulletin, a Haywood County Sheriff’s deputy remembered seeing a car fitting the description on Highway 19 headed towards Ripley. The deputy said the car was traveling around 100 miles per hour.
Reid never made it outside of Lauderdale County—he was captured, still shackled at the waist, in the small town of Henning, just miles from the Ripley City Limits.
Reid carries charges of driving without a license, possession of marijuana, violation of probation and failure to appear in court.
