Man who escaped from jail found in a backyard

By Aimee Norton

Published: May 30, 2008

Jerry Hastings lives just blocks from the Pittsylvania County jail.  Thursday afternoon Larry Dodson escaped from deputies, ran through his yard, hid in the brush.

“They got him just right here between just the other side of the fence and the bamboo here,“ said Hastings.

Minutes before the arrest, Hastings heard a rustling sound. He now believes it was Dodson.

Sheriff Mike Taylor tells us Dodson had been arrested and charged with breaking and entering, but not booked in the jail, so deputies didn’t have to drive into this garage before opening the car doors.

They were going to walk him around the corner of the jail to the Sheriff’s office for questioning.  Sheriff Taylor says as soon as Dodson’s feet hit the ground, he took off.

“But once people found out about this they stayed home, they looked, they listened, and they gave us the tips we needed,“ said Taylor.

Leading them to Hastings’ backyard around 8.  His 13-year-old grandson, Mark Aaron, snapped a picture on his cell phone when he heard police yelling for Dodson to get on his knees.

“When I go back to school in the fall I want to be able to show my friends and say well I had an interesting start to my summer vacation, a guy gets arrested right here,“ said Aaron.

Hasting is just thankful it was all over before dark.

“I couldn’t have slept easily last night knowing he was out there,“ he said.
] “There’s no excuse for that.  He’s gonna have more charges on him now then if he had just done what they told him to do.  It’s that simple,“ added Aaron.

Dodson is now charged with Felony Escape, along with Breaking and Entering and Grand Larceny.  He’s being held with out bond.