AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A prison guard at an east Texas prison has been terminated for “reckless endangerment” after an inmate escaped with a loaded pistol that had been smuggled to him.
Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, says prison guard Michael Price was terminated Thursday from the Estelle High-Security Unit near Huntsville.
Price was the guard who should have searched sex offender Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr., as he was removed from his cell to be transferred to a Beaumont prison, she said.
Armed with a loaded pistol, Comeaux overpowered the guards while en route, taking with him three state-issued weapons from the guards.
Comeaux Jr., a convicted sex offender, was captured Monday in Houston, after a week on the run.