Video: Inmate escapes from prison van and hightails it for freedom

TYNE AND WEAR COUNTY, U.K. - Authorities in England released video footage from security cameras showing an inmate getting out of a prison van and making a mad dash for what would be only temporary freedom earlier this year. 

The prisoner transportation van was parked in a docking bay at a police station in North Tyneside on May 29 when a man in custody kicked his cell door and told a guard he was sick, according to a report. The guard rolled a bottle of water under the door to the inmate, who said he couldn't bend down to get it.

"The officer tried to be helpful and opened the door four inches and put the chain on and handed the bottle of water through to the defendant," a prosecutor told a court. "Unfortunately the officer was then distracted by another prisoner also asking for water."

That's when the inmate reached around the door, unhooked the chain, opened the door, and jumped out of the van.

Video shows the man slipping out of the van and running out of the garage area. Then video footage from another camera shows him running along a busy street, glancing over his shoulder.

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So how did he get out of the gated police station property?

"Unfortunately just as he reached the perimeter gates, they were opening to let a police vehicle drive in," the prosecutor said, "and he was able to run out into the general highway and escape completely from police."

But within a week, police tracked him down and arrested him again, according to ChronicleLive.

A judge tossed the sprinting crook, who had 58 prior convictions, in jail on a six-month sentence.

This story was produced in New York with Storyful.