Four inmates flee jail, return with beer

With their cell doors accidentally left unlocked, four county jail inmates escaped only to return the same night — with beer.

The Hawkins County Jail inmates, who bought four cases of beer before returning to the jail, were charged with escape and introduction of intoxicants into a penal institution, the Kingsport Times-News newspaper reported.

“I guess they thought if they came back they wouldn’t be charged with escape, but they were wrong,” Sheriff Warren Rimer said. Ridgy Dean Coleman, Jimmy Joe Stapleton, David Wayne Blizzard and David Allen Hopkins escaped when their cell block doors were unlocked and a faulty control panel failed to alert jailers, Rimer said. They walked to a nearby market and bought the beer. ap

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