Inmate sets fire to transport van in escape attempt

Reported by: Dana Hertneky
Email: dhertneky@ksn.com
Last Update: 5/20 8:35 pm

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Inmate sets fire to transport van in escape attempt

WICHITA, Kansas – A Sedgwick County detention van was just minutes away from the Sedgwick County Jail with six inmates to be transported out of the county when all of a sudden deputies realized there was a fire in the back of the vehicle.

"They evacuated the inmates and at that time an inmate by the name of Eli Edwards attempted to escape,” said Capt. Annette Haga with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department.

Edwards is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail on a long list of charges, including domestic battery and aggravated assault. But he’s also been convicted and sentenced to life in Texas for aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. So with apparently nothing to lose, investigators say Edwards engineered the escape attempt. But they still don’t know how he started the fire.

"We're trying to determine what he used, where he got it and, of course, try to prevent anything like this from happening in the future,” Haga said.

Haga says all the inmates were searched prior to putting them into the van and there shouldn’t have been a way for Edwards to plant something in the vehicle.

"Vehicles by policy are supposed to be locked and inspected before the use for transport,” said Major Glen Kurtz with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department.

There is no indication the other inmates were involved in the attempt. All of them were secured with leg shackles and handcuffs.

One deputy did suffer minor injuries as he was trying to keep Edwards from escaping. The van was a total loss at a cost of $25,000.

Edward has been booked back into the jail on additional charges of aggravated arson and attempted aggravated escape. The sheriff’s department will present the new charges to the DA’s office next week.

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