LAWRENCE COUNTY Escapee caught after chase

The man kicked through four walls in the hospital, police said.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A man wanted in several burglaries in the city escaped from a secured mental health facility, held an elderly couple hostage and then crashed their car, authorities said.
Charles Wallace, 33, of North Mercer Street was arrested Monday on attempted burglary charges, but Lawrence County Jail officials refused him not because he was injured, but because of an answer he gave on a questionnaire, said Police Chief Tom Sansone.
Wallace was taken to Jameson South and admitted into the mental health ward that had private security.
Sansone said Jameson South called at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday to say that Wallace had escaped by kicking through four walls in the hospital and running away. He had been gone since about noon, the chief said.
Police said Wallace went to a Finch Street house and took car keys from inside, but as he was leaving saw a police car. Sansone said Wallace went back in the house and held the elderly couple hostage upstairs for about an hour. Police do not believe he had a weapon, but that he may have used nail clippers to cut the phone wires in the house.
Sansone said Wallace eventually left in the couple's car and led police on a high-speed chase on Cascade Street to Frew Mill Road, where he crashed into a car driven by Keith Anderson, 54, of Federal Street. Anderson had to be taken by helicopter to St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, where he was in serious condition this morning.
Wallace escaped from his overturned vehicle and led police on a foot chase, but was eventually captured. They took him back to Jameson for a medical checkup before he was arraigned and placed in Lawrence County Jail on $100,000 bond.
He was initially arrested Monday after police found him cutting wires at the Eagles Club on South Jefferson Street. He was charged with criminal attempt at burglary, flight to avoid apprehension, receiving stolen property and criminal mischief.
Sansone said they intend to charge Wallace with kidnapping, recklessly endangering another person and a host of other charges related to Wednesday's activities. The police chief said he is also a person of interest in a string of burglaries at several downtown locations over the past few weeks.
cioffi@vindy.com