Two days after his partner was shot and killed, David Sweat, the remaining prison escapee from a daring breakout from a maximum security prison, was finally captured. Sweat was shot and taken into custody by a state trooper on Sunday, ending a 23-day manhunt that involved the combined efforts of more than a thousand law enforcement officers.
The dramatic end to the brazen prison break fell in the hands of Sergeant Jay Cook, a firearms instructor who was patrolling in the town of Constable, about a mile and a half away from the Canadian border. Sgt. Cook was patrolling on his own when he came across Sweat, who failed to come over when the officer addressed him, reports The CBS News.
The police officer then gave chase when Sweat made a break for a tree line, where it would be possible to lose the police officer. Fearing that the escaped convict might lose him in the forest, Sgt. Cook opened fire, striking Sweat twice in the torso, according to The New York Times.
Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico believes that Sweat's actions show that he was still trying to get to the Canadian border. "At some point, running across a field, he realized that Sweat was going to make it to a tree line, and possibly could have disappeared, and he fired two shots," he said. "I can only assume he was going for the border, that he was that close."
Sweat was unarmed and was wearing mud-stained clothes when he was captured. He was promptly rushed to the Alice Hyde Medical Center for treatment on Sunday, and was later transferred to Albany Medical Center for further treatment, according to CNN.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo states that he is extremely relieved that the long, drawn-out cat-and-mouse game has finally ended. "The nightmare is finally over. We wish it didn't happen in the first place. But if you have to have it happen, this is how you want it to end," he said.
"These were really dangerous, dangerous men," he added.
Sweat will be charged with burglary, escape, as well as other charges. He had been serving a life sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility for killing a Broome County sheriff's deputy, Kevin J. Tarsia, who came upon Sweat as he was dividing up spoils from a robbery. He fired multiple times at the deputy, then ran him over with his car.
