Union City, Tenn.—U.S. Marshals, Obion County Sheriff’s Deputies, and Union City Police combined to apprehend a prisoner who had escaped from the Gibson County Jail Wednesday afternoon.
David Madding, age 34, of Union City was arrested after he carjacked a vehicle in Dyer Thursday morning and later drove the vehicle into a bean field on Hwy. 183 near Obion.
Madding walked away from a litter crew Wednesday in Dyer. Madding was serving time for theft and robbery and was being housed in Gibson County for the Obion County Sheriff’s Office. According to the original press release from the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office, Madding was working with a sheriff’s employee and other jail trustees when he walked away from the work detail.
After slipping from the work crew, Madding reportedly threatened a driver with a box cutter and stole his vehicle in Dyer.
U.S. Marshals reportedly narrowed the search to the Walmart parking lot in Union City and the Obion Co. deputies and Union City Police began a pursuit which moved through rural Obion County, ending in the bean field.
Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas issued the following statement after Madding escaped from the work detail:
“As the Sheriff of Gibson County I understand that with everything, not only here at the Correctional Complex, but in life; there are risks and rewards. Having a trustee walk away from a work detail is a risk every correctional facility that utilizes trustees face. The reward is that this particular litter crew is solely responsible for picking up over 124,000 pounds of litter from the Gibson County roads since January 01, 2018. There is no other litter crew responsible for the County roads and if not for these trustees then it would continue to collect in our ditches and along our roads. Our trustees here at Gibson County serve multiple communities around Gibson County to help supplement their existing workforce. This labor comes at no cost to the cities using them and if not for free labor these towns would run the risk of either not getting the jobs done that needed to be completed, or raising their city taxes to hire additional staff. Our trustees mow County properties, work at waste water treatment facilities, work at parks, and help numerous non-profits and churches in Gibson County. Their labor is invaluable to those utilizing it and we will continue the trustee work program. Every day is an opportunity to learn something and when something like this happens you learn what areas need to be addressed to minimize the risk of it happening again.”
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