Trumbull escapee caught, returned to jail

WARREN — Richard Harker, 32, of 9th Street in Niles, was captured and returned to the Trumbull County Jail about 3 a.m. today, jail officials said.

He walked away from St. Joseph Health Center on Friday afternoon after Weathersfield police took him there from Niles Municipal Court for an illness.

Weathersfield police also found him, jail officials said.

Weathersfield police arrested Harker Thursday afternoon in Niles after a former girlfriend told them Harker assaulted her in the driveway of a house on Evaline Street in Mineral Ridge by pushing his thumb into her eye and pushing her around.

The woman had facial and eye injuries and reported having trouble seeing, so she was taken to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital for treatment.

Harker was in court on Friday morning to answer to a domestic-violence charge in that matter.