Police arrest 1 escaped inmate but another is still at large
One of the two inmates who escaped two weeks ago from a courthouse in Palo Alto was captured in Stockton, but the other remained on the loose after speeding off in a vehicle, prompting a California Highway Patrol officer to fire a shot, authorities said.
Tramel McClough, 46, was taken into custody but John Bivins, 47, escaped a second time.
McClough was arrested on Tuesday, when CHP officers tried to stop a vehicle he was driving northbound on Interstate 5, south of Eight Mile Road in Stockton, about 5:15 p.m., officials said. The officers pursued the vehicle off Interstate 5 to southbound Trinity Parkway, where McClough jumped out and ran into a Walmart. He was later taken into custody. A passenger in the fleeing 1999 Ford Explorer was identified as Bivins, the CHP said.
When McClough jumped out, Bivins got into the driver’s seat and drove off. At least one CHP officer fired his gun during the incident. No officers were injured, said Officer Charlie Katzakian, a CHP spokesman.
CHP officials said the California license plate number of the Ford Explorer is 7TTY505. The car is not registered to the inmates nor to two accomplices already under arrest. It was not reported as stolen, according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
Detectives with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office tracked the men to Stockton after receiving tips throughout the two-week search, said Sgt. Rich Glennon, a sheriff’s office spokesman. The agency asked Stockton Police and CHP to assist with surveillance. Detectives spotted the men, prompting the CHP to chase the vehicle they were in.
“We cannot overstate how thankful we are to Stockton CHP, Stockton PD, and all agencies in this collective law enforcement effort to bring both these individuals back into custody,” Glennon wrote in an email Wednesday.
Bivins and McClough, both charged in a cell phone store robbery in Sunnyvale, escaped from the Santa Clara County Superior Court in Palo Alto about 9:30 a.m. Nov. 6, following a court hearing. A sheriff’s deputy was escorting the men down a public hall near an elevator when they broke free and bolted out an emergency exit, authorities said. The pair jumped into a U-Haul that authorities believe accomplices left for them outside the courthouse and drove away.
Sheriff’s officials said that at the time of the escape, one inmate was handcuffed with waist chains and removed his leg shackles after racing from the courthouse. The other inmate freed himself from handcuffs before leaving the courthouse. Investigators found discarded restraints and a handcuff key during the search, officials said.
A day later, Rene Hunt and Marquita Kirk were arrested and booked on charges of conspiracy and accessory after the fact in connection with the escape.
Hunt, 54, from East Palo Alto, allegedly helped arrange the vehicle the inmates used in the getaway. He is a “known associate” of at least one of the men, said Glennon.
Kirk, 44, was taken into custody at her Sunnyvale home after authorities learned she rented the U-Haul van the fugitives used in the escape, officials said.
Kirk had a long-standing relationship with McClough, authorities said, but declined to release further details on the nature of it.
McClough and Bivins had been in jail since February, when they were arrested in connection with an armed robbery in Sunnyvale.
The robbers, armed with a handgun and knife, forced store employees to open a safe, then tied them up and locked them in a bathroom, police said.
They stole more than $64,000 worth of cell phones and other merchandise before they were caught after a brief police pursuit, officials said.
Bivins and McClough were being held without bail before they escaped.
Anyone with information on Bivins’ location is asked to call 911.