Moments before a 22-year-old man hopped up on a police vehicle, scaled the Clayton County jail wall and made his escape Wednesday night, the officer who made the arrest asked for backup, knowing he was a flight risk.
It took two hours and all the resources at the county’s disposal to bring Nigiel Lee, who was initially arrested on home invasion and aggravated assault charges, back into custody early Thursday morning. His flight has prompted questions about security and procedures at the facility former sheriff Victor Hill once dubbed “Georgia’s toughest paramilitary jail.”
Newly released video shows Lee’s escape attempt began the moment he was placed in the back of a patrol car, and despite the warnings of his arresting officer, how quickly Lee was able to slip away from intake deputies in the jail’s secure transfer area.
Lee was arrested Wednesday evening following what was initially reported as a domestic disturbance at a home on Grande River Road. The 911 caller said an armed man was trying to break in, according to Clayton police.
When officers arrived, they saw a man, later identified as Lee, hop a fence into the backyard, climb up to a second-floor window and eventually scale the roof. He was arrested after jumping over the officers waiting below and trying to break into a second home, police said in an edited video of the arrest compiled from patrol vehicle and body camera footage.
The video shows Lee shimmy his handcuffs from behind his back and under his legs while seated in the back of the patrol car. He was still cuffed with his hands in the front when he asked the officer at the wheel to get out to use a bathroom, the footage shows.
“Absolutely, no,” Officer Sherwood replied, and she called her supervisor to report the request.
“Sir, do you know that you have a history of running and you think you are going to get me out here by myself, in the middle of nowhere?” Sherwood said in the video.
Sherwood requested backup, and she was met by at least one sheriff’s deputy at the jail’s sally port. She was attempting to explain Lee’s flight risk when he stepped out of her vehicle, and she noticed his cuffs had been moved.
Neither officer was making physical contact with Lee when he took off running, the footage shows.
“I knew it! I told you!” Sherwood said as Lee darted across the parking lot and jumped from vehicle to vehicle to reach the brick wall at its perimeter. A coil of barbed wire was all that stood between Lee and the outside.
According to police, officers are required to secure their weapons before entering the transfer area, lest they fall into the wrong hands. Sherwood told the deputies she did not have her Taser, and sounded frustrated as she asked for more backup.
“Whatever you do, do not leave him right here,” Sherwood told jail staff in the video as Lee hesitated on top of an SUV. “Can we not call for more people?”
A mere seconds later, the video shows Lee hopped back down, ran across the lot, scaled a wired portion of the fence and disappeared over the top. Police said a K-9 unit tracked him to the area of Whaley’s Lake Drive, which is located directly behind the jail across a creek.
Lee, who is from Dothan, Alabama, is now behind bars and is being held without bond. In addition to facing charges in the Grande River Road incident and a fresh charge of obstruction, he is wanted on charges out of DeKalb County and Alabama, according to police.
The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office has not made any public statements about the escape.
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