An Arkansas jail inmate who fled from custody at a hospital in Stone County on Monday was later found naked, hiding underneath a log in a heavily wooded area, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities say 27-year-old Joshua Kirby, who was in shackles and handcuffs, "bolted" around 9:30 p.m. from the Stone County Medical Center in Mountain View while receiving treatment.
A sheriff's deputy attempted to catch Kirby, but authorities were unable to locate and apprehend him until around two hours later in a wooded area east of the hospital. The Arkansas Department of Correction's K-9 team was called to assist in the search.
Kirby was initially arrested Sunday on multiple charges — second-degree battery on law enforcement, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and public intoxication — after a fight around 6:20 p.m. that night on Herpel Road, where authorities say they found him drunk and arguing with a woman.
The sheriff's office said Kirby, whose eyes were bloodshot and speech was slurred, admitted to drinking alcohol.
He later resisted arrest, biting the deputy in his right arm and striking him three times in the face as he was "growling like a dog," according to authorities.
A stun gun was used by a sergeant with the Mountain View Police Department in an attempt to subdue Kirby, who continued to kick and scream as he was being handcuffed by the deputy.
He was being held at the Stone County jail in lieu of $20,000 bond, the sheriff's office said. Stone County Sheriff Lance Bonds said that amount had not changed as of Tuesday.
After his escape and recapture, Kirby was then arrested again and taken back to the Stone County jail, where he remains on an additional charge of third-degree escape, a class C felony, records show.