Ohio Police Arrest Escaped Prisoner

Police arrested an inmate at a house where he holed up Monday after overpowering a guard in a hospital and fleeing with the guard's gun and uniform, authorities said.

Billy Jack Fitzmorris, 34, is believed to have escaped on foot from St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown. Police believe he robbed two banks in central Ohio before going into the house in Hilliard, a Columbus suburb about 150 miles southwest of Youngstown, Hilliard police Lt. Evert Lambert said.

Two hospital workers, the guard and three other prison officers were held briefly in a hospital room during the escape, but no one was injured, authorities said.

Earlier, police surrounded a house in Hilliard where Fitzmorris was hiding, said David Siler of the fugitive task force of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Television footage showed a man breaking into the house after abandoning a car nearby. A person later climbed out a second story window and dropped to the ground as police arrived.

Corrections Corporation spokeswoman Louise Grant said Fitzmorris has been awaiting sentencing but she did not know what charge he was to be sentenced on.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based prison operator also gave no details on why he was taken to the hospital on Saturday or how he overpowered the guard. He had been under observation in his room Monday morning when the confrontation occurred, the company said.

Tina Creighton, a spokeswoman for St. Elizabeth hospital, authorities searched the block-long complex room-by-room for Fitzmorris for several hours. Patients and visitors would have noticed increased security, but no patient care was interrupted, she said.

The guard uniform is a white button-down shirt with a Corrections Corporation of America badge and dark navy blue pants. The prison company was unsure whether Fitzmorris had restraints on his legs.