A Redby, Minn., robbery suspect escaped from jailers taking him to a medical appointment Tuesday in Bemidji, running way, then stealing a vehicle, speeding up to the Red Lake Indian Reservation where he last was seen running into the woods, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff's Office.
A manhunt involving city, county, state and federal officers is underway in the snowy forest, according to a news release sent out about 7:20 p.m. today by Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp. At 10:30 p.m., Tuesday, King still was on the lam in the woods, last seen on foot.
Jason Lee King, 21, was in jail in Bemidji charged with armed robbery from an incident at Newby's Store in Beltrami County in December.
On Tuesday just before 1 p.m., he was being escorted from the regional jail in Bemidji to the Sanford Medical Center when he ran away from jail officers across the hospital campus. Bemidji police and Beltrami County deputies responded, following King's tracks in the snow to a home on Irvine Avenue in Bemidji where the tracks indicated King stole a vehicle from the driveway. A neighbor reported seeing a red pickup truck driving north from the residence. Neighboring law enforcement agencies were contacted and the search concentrated to the north of Bemidji; King's hometown of Redby is on the Red Lake reservation north of Bemidji.
A tribal police officer spotted the stolen truck entering the reservation on state Highway 89 and tried to stop it. The chase went north, into Redby, with speeds reaching 90 mph and King often driving into oncoming traffic, forcing vehicles off the road. King drove into forested areas south of Redby on minimum maintenance roads and trails near Fireline Road and the South Boundary Road on the fringe of the reservation. On South Railway Road he crashed the truck and fled on foot into the woods.
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Officers from Koochiching and Clearwater counties, the State Patrol, as well as the FBI and the U.S. Border Patrol are assisting Red Lake police and Beltrami County deputies, using dogs.
Sheriff Hodapp said anyone with information about King should call his office at (218) 333-9111, or Red Lake police at (218) 679-3313.
