for escape try

Staff Writer

Freedom was short lived Thursday for a Union County Detention Center inmate who jumped out of a work van, unaware that his moves were being observed by Union Public Safety Chief Sam White.

Detention center director Niel McKeown said Terry Lorenzo Smith, 33, was in a work van that stopped at the intersection of Highway 49 and U.S. 176 around 11 a.m.

White, who was in his patrol vehicle, saw the van door open and Smith, whom he knew, jump out and begin running.

White followed Smith, who was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and watched as he ran past Jenkins Street, go behind houses and cross Collector Drive.

“On Murrow Drive he ran up into the circle area,” White said. “I motioned for him to stop and he did. I told him it was over and he surrendered.”

Smith, whose address is 304 Rice Ave., was taken to the Union County Jail and charged with escape.

McKeown said Smith had been held in the detention center since Nov. 11. He was serving a seven-month sentence on two Family Court orders for failure to pay child support and also serving 30 days on a Union Public Safety Department malicious damage charge. In that case, Smith also was ordered to pay $700 restitution.