David Sweat in serious condition after capture
MALONE, N.Y. - The escaped murderer who was shot by a state trooper near the Canadian border is in serious condition at an Albany hospital, a spokesperson said.
David Sweat's condition had been downgraded to critical after initially being flown to Albany Medical Center on Sunday night, but an evaluation there determined "he did not require any surgeries," said hospital director Dennis P. McKenna in a statement.
"David Sweat will remain at Albany Medical Center for at least a few days while his condition stabilizes," McKenna said.
Sweat was shot twice in the torso on Sunday afternoon by New York State Police Sgt. Jay Cook just before his capture, reports CBS affiliate WCAX in Burlington, Vermont. Cook was alone when he spotted a suspicious looking man just walking down the road. At first, the man ignored Cook upon initial approach, but when he turned around, the officer realized it was the escaped prisoner. Sweat took off running for a tree line, and then Cook opened fire, fearing he would lose the man in the woods.
Cook has been hailed as a hero for his actions.
Sweat is one of two prisoners who escaped from a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago. the prison break was the first escape from the maximum-security portion of the prison since it was built in 1865. The other escapee, Richard Matt, was killed in a confrontation with law enforcement on Friday.
Cuomo said Sweat had a bag containing maps, tools, bug repellent and Pop Tarts when he was shot by Cook in a farm field less than two miles from the border in Constable, New York.
The daring escape from Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora was "done with facilitators, it was done with cooperators," Cuomo said.
"This was 'Cool Hand Luke' meets 'Shawshank Redemption," he said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
After Sweat was shot, some of the same state troopers who'd been hunting down the convicts since their escape found themselves scrambling to get the lone survivor to a hospital, hoping to make him well enough to share the tale of how the pair managed to escape and stay on the run for so long.
The capture of Sweat came two days after Matt was killed in Malone, just south of Constable, while holding a shotgun. Sweat was unarmed when he was shot.
Matt - who once vowed never to be taken alive - was sick and drunk when police caught up with him, according to a report. Investigators told the newspaper that the finding of Matt's soiled underwear before they caught up with him indicated he was likely ill from consuming contaminated food or water.
One of the tips that led investigators to Matt was a local reporting one of their cabins having been broken into, with empty or half-drunken bottles of booze lying everywhere, the Buffalo News reports. Officials said Matt's corpse reeked of alcohol.
The men had been on the loose since June 6, when they cut their way out of the prison in Dannemora, about 30 miles from Malone, using power tools. Two prison workers have been charged with helping them.
Clinton correction officer Gene Palmer, charged with promoting prison contraband, tampering with physical evidence and official misconduct, is due in court Monday. His attorney has said he will plead not guilty.
Officials said Palmer gave the two prisoners frozen hamburger meat that a prison tailoring shop instructor had used to hide the tools she smuggled to Sweat and Matt. Palmer's attorney said he had no knowledge that the meat contained hacksaw blades, a bit and a screwdriver.
Prosecutors said the tailor shop worker, Joyce Mitchell, got close to the men while working with them and had agreed to be their getaway driver but backed out because she felt guilty for participating in the escape. Authorities also said Mitchell had discussed killing her husband as part of the plot.
Mitchell has been accused of having sexual relations with one of the prisoners. Her husband, Lyle Mitchell, has refuted the claims.
Joyce Mitchell pleaded not guilty June 15 to charges including felony promoting prison contraband.
Sweat's capture ended an ordeal that sent 1,300 law enforcement officers into the thickly forested northern reaches of New York and forced residents to tolerate nerve-wracking armed checkpoints and property searches.
"The nightmare is finally over," Cuomo declared at a news conference.
While the exact plans the escapees had laid out are still not clear, many suspect the location of his capture is a big clue.
"I can only assume he was going for the border," Superintendent Joseph D'Amico said.
D'Amico said the men may have used black pepper to throw off their scent from the dogs that were tracking them; he said Sweat's DNA was recovered from pepper shakers found at one camp where the fugitives may have spent time.
Cuomo said many questions remained unanswered in the case, including whether the inmates had other accomplices.
"We have already started a full investigation," he said. "But today ends with good news. These were dangerous, dangerous men."
Sweat had not been formally interviewed by investigators as of late Sunday, but any information he provides could be critical to the investigation, Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said.
Sweat will be charged with escape, burglary and other charges, Wylie said. He and Matt are suspected of breaking into some of the region's many cabins during their time on the lam. Wylie said prosecutors would wait for Sweat to recover before charging him.
Matt, 49, and Sweat used power tools to saw through a steel cell wall and several steel steam pipes, bashed a hole through a 2-foot-thick brick wall, squirmed through pipes and emerged from a manhole outside Clinton Correctional.
Sweat was serving a sentence of life without parole in the killing of a sheriff's deputy in Broome County in 2002. Matt was serving 25 years to life for the killing and dismembering of his former boss.
Authorities said the men had filled their beds in their adjacent cells with clothes to make it appear they were sleeping when guards made overnight rounds. On a cut steam pipe, the prisoners left a taunting note containing a crude caricature of an Asian face and the words "Have a nice day."
Prosecutors said the inmates apparently used tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night's work.