Inmate taken into custody here after crashing car
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
A state inmate — one of two who escaped less than four hours apart from Loxley Work Release in Monday’s predawn hours — was recaptured here about nine hours later after he crashed his getaway car at a local convenience store.
According to escape and recapture notices issued by Alabama Department of Corrections officials, 22-year-old Damon Rashad Dinsmore was reported missing from the minimum security facility around 2:05 a.m. As the search for Dinsmore widened, a second inmate — Cantorius Alan White, 21 — was reported missing around 6:05 a.m. from the same facility.
White was serving the second year of a 10-year Mobile County sentence for possession of a pistol by a person convicted of a violent act. He remained on the loose for only about two hours before Loxley police had him back in custody.
Dinsmore, having taken the car from an undisclosed location, headed north on Interstate 65 until he decided to leave the federal thoroughfare at Exit 57 and head into Atmore. The escapee reportedly crashed his getaway car into a pole at the Chevron station near the exit and lit out on foot.
Atmore police officers and investigators were sent to the scene and immediately launched a manhunt for the escaped convict, who was serving a third-degree burglary sentence out of Franklin County.
The search began in the Rivercane area and included Alabama State Troopers; deputies, investigators and a canine unit from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office; Poarch tribal police; and other, unnamed agencies.
ECSO Chief Deputy Mike Lambert reported by text message shortly after 11 a.m. Monday that Dinsmore apparently ran out of resistance and surrendered quietly after he was located by officers along Bell Fork Road.
Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks said he was pleased to see the inmate recaptured without further incident.
“Anytime you have an escapee, everybody participates,” said Brooks of the multi-agency posse. “We were fortunate to get him back. I’m just glad he didn’t steal a car; then we’d have a chase.”