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Escaped Prisoner Caught 1 Day After Hammer Attack

News Channel 8 image by ERIC HAUSMANN

James Coursey, 49, is led back to jail by deputies.

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Chip Osowski / News Channel 8

Published: January 14, 2008

LECANTO – An escaped convict has been caught in Lecanto, Citrus County Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy confirmed about 9:45 a.m. today.

James Coursey

The sheriff's office intensified its manhunt for James Coursey, 49, after he was seen Sunday morning in a shed outside a home in the Leisure Acres subdivision in Citrus County, two days after he escaped a detention facility on foot, sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Yates said.

The homeowner who spotted Coursey approached the shed, and that's when Coursey, armed with a hammer, attacked the homeowner, Yates said.

The homeowner, who was not immediately identified, suffered minor cuts and was treated on the scene, Yates said.

Deputies in helicopters and with canine units on the ground hunted for Coursey on Sunday, Yates said.
He was captured without incident off of County Road 491 near the Central Florida Community College campus, the sheriff's office confirmed.

Coursey fled the Citrus County Detention Facility on Friday afternoon. He was arrested in February on a warrant for grand theft. While jailed, Coursey was charged with unarmed burglary of unoccupied structures.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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