Former Police Chief Serving Time for Murder and Rape Escapes Prison, Shocking U.S.

Escaped Disguised as a Police Officer

In the United States, a former police chief who had been serving a lengthy prison sentence for crimes including murder and rape escaped from prison.

Former police officer Grant Hardin has escaped from custody. Arkansas Department of Corrections

According to the Associated Press and other sources on May 26 (local time), U.S. correctional authorities announced that Grant Hardin, 56, who once served as police chief in the small town of Gateway on the border of Arkansas and Missouri, escaped from a prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas, at around 3:40 p.m. the previous day.

He had been incarcerated there since 2017 and reportedly escaped by disguising himself in an improvised police uniform.

The correctional authorities stated that they are cooperating with state and federal police, and are using various means, including search dogs and drones, to conduct the investigation. However, it was reported that the search was hampered by rain that day.

Hardin had been serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder after being convicted of killing a 59-year-old city official with a shotgun in Gateway in February 2017.

Later, in 2019, DNA evidence revealed that he was also responsible for the rape of an elementary school teacher in 1997, a case that had remained unsolved. This resulted in an additional 25-year prison sentence.

Correctional authorities assessed that, given Hardin's violent criminal record, his sturdy build of 180 cm in height and 117 kg in weight, and his background in law enforcement, he poses a threat to the local community. They have mobilized law enforcement resources to search for and apprehend him.