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CHP Officer Helps Catch Inmate Who Ran From San Joaquin General Hospital

FRENCH CAMP (CBS13) – A California Highway Patrol officer helped stop an inmate who was trying to escape after being taken to a local hospital.

Exactly why the inmate was getting treatment is unclear, but back on Sunday evening a Stockton-area CHP officer was pulling into the San Joaquin General Hospital when he came upon the scene: two correctional officers chasing after an inmate in an orange jumpsuit.

The officer got back in his car and started following them across the parking lot. Somehow, the inmate was able to climb the perimeter fence of Interstate 5 and ran onto the freeway.

Following close behind, the CHP officer spotted the inmate at the bottom of a steep embankment on the freeway taking off the orange jumpsuit.

The inmate then tried to climb onto the fence separating the freeway from a neighborhood. It was at this point that the officer caught up to him, pepper sprayed the inmate and took him into custody.

In total, the incident lasted no more than four minutes.

The name of the inmate has not been released.

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