The Houston community can exhale after an intense, nearly half-a-day manhunt for an escaped inmate came to its conclusion, with the apprehension taking place right in the fugitive's family home. ABC13 reports that the suspect, Nigel Thomas Sanders, 35, a man with a lengthy list of prior offenses, fled the court premises and, in a desperate bid for freedom, brandished a knife to carjack a district attorney's office employee; however, his respite was short-lived as law enforcement closed in on his location at his mother's house in east Harris County.
With law enforcement exerting every effort, an array of agencies converged on addresses tied to the suspect, culminating in the decisive moment when the Violent Offenders Fugitive Task Force utilized a Taser to subdue and capture Sanders at his mother's residence, located in the 1400 block of Force St. as reported by Click2Houston, Kathryn Dianne Sanders, 53, and his sister Zana Tyler, 27, are facing charges themselves for hindering his apprehension, their mugshots now a public record of the familial allegiance that trumped the law.
Sanders, who initially appeared in court for multiple burglary counts and an unlawful weapon possession charge, now amasses further accusations of aggravated robbery and escape, expanding an already heavy dossier of criminal behavior. The HCSO emphasized in their briefing that Sanders' resistance during the arrest warranted the decisive use of the Taser, an action resulting in his subsequent hospital treatment.
Both sources indicate that after his courthouse escape, which started by eluding the security parameters at 1301 Franklin, adjacent to the prison complex, Sanders' flight included a plunge into the murky waters of Buffalo Bayou, all while clad in jailhouse attire, from where he made his way to his family's abode. But the law stretches far into the folds of the Cloverleaf community where, thanks to the vigilance of citizens and the coordinated efforts of multiple law enforcement units, the chase came to its endpoint.