OKC Inmate Recaptured After Third Escape

An inmate with a history of escaping and eluding police is back behind bars after officers arrested him again Wednesday.

Dale Golden kept police busy throughout Tuesday night and Wednesday until police found him around 5 p.m. Wednesday. Witnesses say it all happened very quickly. One minute the neighborhood was quiet, the next, police were swarming a residential area near I-35 and I-240.

1/25/2012 Related Story: Inmate Who Escaped From OKC Hospital Captured

"He won't get away," Lt. Jay Barnett of the Oklahoma City police said Tuesday night.

Barnett was right on the money. It was short-lived freedom for Dale Golden. Just more than 21 hours after his escape, police re-arrest the suspect.

"I felt like I was in an episode of Cops," a witness going by the name of Bubba told News 9.

Witnesses say Golden was seen in a backyard shortly before police zeroed on the Southeast Side neighborhood.

The whole thing started Tuesday night, just as rain set its sights on Oklahoma City. Police say Golden was supposed to be under the supervision of a police officer at Integris Southwest Medical Center. Golden was handcuffed and wearing a hospital gown, but that didn't stop the man from walking out.

"When he exited the hospital, he was wearing either black sweats or black scrubs," Barnett said. "The suspect was in custody for charges of felony possession of a firearm and also a warrant for escaping from Oklahoma County."

Yes, Golden has escaped before. He escaped not once, but twice.

"We considered him a high flight risk or a high escape risk," Barnett said.

DOC records show Golden escaped from the Lawton Community Corrections Center in 1995. In 2000, he escaped from police custody in Oklahoma County. A police spokesperson says the department is now investigating itself to see what went wrong. Police say there is a possibility someone may have helped Golden escape.

On Thursday, News 9's Michael Konopasek will take questions on the escape straight to the top. News 9 expects to have answers from the chief of police on Thursday.

Witnesses say police initially took Golden and another man into custody but released the second man later at the scene.