An escaped inmate driving a N.C. Department of Transportation truck was caught Monday after a pursuit in Chester County, authorities said.
John Dod Jr., 21, was jailed late Monday, charged with failure to yield to emergency blue lights, Chester County officials said. It wasn't clear late Monday when Dod would return to prison.
Dod was the only inmate on a work detail in Rowan County on U.S. 29 near China Grove about 10 a.m., prison officials said. Inmates are generally granted off-site work assignments if they're not considered a flight risk.
Authorities said he drove away from the work site in a yellow N.C. DOT pickup truck, leaving at least one state worker behind. Rowan County authorities alerted the N.C. Highway Patrol and police agencies in Mecklenburg because the man has a girlfriend and grandmother in the Charlotte area.
Police in Charlotte and Matthews searched at least two addresses but didn't find the man. During one search, Matthews police ordered an emergency lockdown of Elizabeth Lane Elementary School as a precaution.
The alert issued for Dod extended beyond Mecklenburg into South Carolina because he remained at-large by early afternoon.
York County deputies spotted him on U.S. 321 and pursued him until a Chester County deputy took over the chase. He was held in the Chester County jail late Monday.
Dod, an inmate at the minimum-security Rowan Correctional Center in Salisbury, was convicted two years ago of robbery with a dangerous weapon, Mecklenburg court records show. He was sentenced to five years and five months in prison.