Arizona officer shoots inmate who escaped from hospital

PHOENIX — A sheriff’s detention officer in Phoenix shot a jail inmate multiple times after he slipped out of restraints and fled while being taken to a hospital.

The inmate is hospitalized in critical condition. A Maricopa County sheriff’s spokesman says the officer shot him Tuesday morning after responding to a radio call for help from another officer who was struggling with the inmate. That officer had chased him in a prisoner transport van.

The spokesman says the inmate ran from the hospital after somehow unfastening handcuffs and leg restraints.

He and two other prisoners were being unloaded from the van after being taken to the county hospital.

The shooting occurred on a street near the hospital, and news video showed a parked black van with bullet holes in its windshield.