SAN JOSE (KRON) — A Santa Clara County inmate briefly escaped from custody on Tuesday while he was being moved from the jail to the courthouse.
26-year-old Eric Nelson was handcuffed to another inmate on a bus going from the Elmwood Correction Facility in Milpitas to the Terraine Courthouse in San Jose.
Around 1:10 p.m., Nelson was able to allegedly get out of his handcuffs and escape by squeezing between the bud and a chain-link fence that forms into a box attacked to the courthouse.
Deputies with the sheriff’s office chased Nelson, catching him in just a few minutes, Santa Clara County sheriff’s Sgt. James Jensen said.
Nelson was taken to the hospital to be treated for pain to his wrist, back and ankle, Jensen said.
One of the deputies involved in the chase suffered a minor injury and was also taken to a hospital as a precaution, according to Jensen.
Once Nelson is cleared by the hospital, be will be booked on charges of suspicion of escaping from custody and resisting arrest.
Nelson was scheduled to be in court Tuesday for drug charges on a warrant.
This isn’t the first inmate to escape while in the custody of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office.
On March 6, inmate Johnell Carter escaped while he was being treated at an area hospital. He was finally captured in Mississippi, a month later.