66-year-old Coyote Ridge inmate walks away from prison work crew in Pasco

A 66-year-old Coyote Ridge inmate walked away from a work crew on a Tri-Cities college campus on Wednesday. But it didn’t take long for police to track him down.

Jerry L King was part of a crew doing maintenance on the Pasco campus of Columbia Basin College when he disappeared about 1 p.m., said Chris Wright, the communications director for the Department of Corrections.

King has been in minimum security at the Connell prison since April 24 after being convicted of illegally possessing a gun and having a stolen vehicle, Wright said. King was due to be released in October 2029.

Department officials immediately began their escape protocols, mobilizing the community response unit and notifying Pasco police.

Pasco officers searched the area around the campus, then began looking in nearby neighborhoods, Sgt. Brad Leininger told the Tri-City Herald.

Officers found King about 2 p.m. walking near the corner of 17th Avenue and Court Street, about a mile from the campus.

“Mr. King had no plan it seems beyond walking away,” Leininger told the Herald. He was actually walking back toward the college when police found him.

King was booked into the Franklin County jail on suspicion of first-degree escape. He isn’t linked to any crimes in the area during the time he was unaccounted for.

New Horizons High School, which is next to the college, wasn’t notified about the escape until about the school’s class release time of 2 p.m., said Anna Tensmeyer, the district’s director of communications.

“We would like to thank our local law enforcement partners for their incredible work yesterday,” Wright said. “They were able to quickly find King and take him into custody without incident. DOC will conduct an internal investigation to determine how King was able to walk away from his work crew.”