(KAIR)--The details of the weekend arrest of an Atchison County Jail escapee are released, while Atchison County Sheriff Jack Laurie both thanks the public for information that helped lead to the apprehension of Taggart Lee, while also offering apologies for, in his words, “everything that occurred.”

That’s lined out in a release from Laurie who confirms a Saturday morning Atchison County CODE RED Emergency Alert announcing that the 20-year-old Lee had been apprehended.

According to Laurie, Lee was arrested around 2:10 Saturday morning, taken into custody by Sheriff’s deputies, with the assistance of the Atchison Police Department, and the Kansas Highway Patrol.

That followed a Friday evening search for Lee after information revealed both that he was in Atchison and the type of vehicle he was driving.

An attempt to locate was issued, with Atchison Police spotting the vehicle in the city, which led to a pursuit shortly after 9:30 Friday night. With the pursuit leaving the city limits, the Sheriff’s Office took over as it continued into the rural Farmington area, with Lee, allegedly behind the wheel of the suspect vehicle, reaching high speeds that caused law enforcement to lose track of the speeding vehicle near Meade and 262nd Roads.

A CODE RED emergency alert was issued, and Laurie says “cooperation by citizens helped pinpoint a location, where the Kansas Highway Patrol air support unit was able to locate the suspect vehicle abandoned in the area of 262nd and Kiowa Road, on the former railroad tracks.”

Lee, on foot, fled to a nearby residence, where it’s believed he stole another pickup truck, complete with stock trailer, and drove away.
However, the release says “Lee was located a short time later after the Atchison Police Department located the stolen vehicle, in Atchison, in the 800 block of north 4th Street.

Through Sheriff’s Office information linking Lee to a residence in the 800 block of Atchison’s North 5th Street, permission was obtained by law enforcement to enter that residence “where Lee was apprehended by K9.”

Transported to Atchison’s Amberwell Health for treatment of what Laurie calls “superficial wounds from the K9 apprehension,” Lee was returned to the custody of the Atchison County Jail.

Originally booked into jail in January for an aggravated robbery on New Year’s Eve 2020, Lee was taken into custody Saturday morning on “an outstanding District Court warrant for aggravated escape from custody, and aggravated assault, that occurred during the escape” from the jail early Thursday morning due to what Laurie earlier said was because “several security policies were not followed by jail security staff,” which allowed Lee to manipulate a door lock, ultimately leading to his escape.

Following an Atchison County Sheriff’s Office social media post, made around 9:15 Thursday morning announcing Lee’s escape, the public took to Facebook to comment, with some of the comments critical of the situation, including the time it took to notify the public that Lee, who escaped around 1:20 Thursday morning and is considered dangerous by the Sheriff’s Office, was on the loose.

Laurie, in a release Sunday night, offered apologies, saying “it’s an unfortunate, dangerous and embarrassing event,” adding that the Sheriff’s Office “will learn from it and continue addressing the issues that led to the escape.” Laurie concluded the release by saying his office will “review and address the reasonable concerns that the public provided.”

Along with the charges stemming from his January arrest, and the escape from custody, Lee faces other pending charges, including two counts of theft of a motor vehicle, flee and attempt to elude law enforcement, and burglary of a non-dwelling.