Officers honored for capturing escapee

March 02, 2009|By DAVE McMILLION

BOONSBORO -- Two Boonsboro Police Department officers were honored Monday night for their role in the Jan. 22 capture of an inmate who escaped from the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown.

Convicted murderer Kandelario Garcia-Ramos was captured after a clerk at a Sheetz store at U.S. 40 and Md. 66, east of Hagerstown, called 911 to report a suspicious man loitering in the store.

When police arrived, the man -- who was outside talking on a cell phone and drinking coffee -- ran southwest into a field, at one point pulling out an eight-inch knife as officers chased him, police said.

Among the officers responding to the area were Sgt. Richard Poffenberger Jr. and officer Shawn Faith of the Boonsboro Police Department, Boonsboro Police Chief Jeff Hewett said during a Boonsboro Town Council meeting Monday night.

A Washington County Sheriff's deputy was chasing the suspect on foot while Poffenberger and Faith joined in the chase in separate four-wheeled vehicles with other officers, Hewett and Poffenberger said.

Garcia-Ramos went into Beaver Creek in an attempt to hide from officers but Poffenberger and Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Scott Smith were able to capture him, Hewett said.

Faith and several other officers quickly converged on the inmate too, Poffenberger said.

During Monday's town council meeting, Poffenberger and Faith were brought to the front of the room in the town council chambers to join Mayor Charles F. "Skip" Kauffman Jr. as a proclamation was read honoring them.

"I'm always proud of what these guys do," Hewett said of Poffenberger and Faith.

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