DOC Inmate Escapee Recaptured By Police

A 21-year-old Oklahoma Department of Corrections inmate has been recaptured by Oklahoma City police.

Officials said Cooper Ewert escaped from the Clara Waters Community Corrections Center on June 23. The low-security corrections facility is located on an I-35 service road near Britton Road.

According to a police report, Ewert was spotted Sunday morning in a neighborhood near Southwest 38th and Harvey Ct.. Officers were sent to the area on a suspicious activity call.

“When officers arrived, they found Cooper Ewert in the neighborhood carrying a knife and carrying gloves,” said Msgt. Gary Knight, Oklahoma City Police Department.

Officers talked to him for a while. They learned Ewert did not live in the area and had a warrant for escaping DOC custody. He was arrested and booked into the Oklahoma County Jail.

“There is an old saying that it is better to be lucky than good,” said Knight. “In this case it certainly turned out that way because the officer was simply responding to a suspicious activity call. Not saying there is an escapee out here and that is just what it happened to be.”

Ewert is a non-violent offender serving a five-year sentence out of Garfield County for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was placed in the Clara Waters Community Corrections Center in April. He will be turned back over to DOC custody and is charged with one count escaping from a penitentiary.

The last escape from low-security facility was Dec. 2016. Officials said the inmate also walked away from the building.