A baby, toddler and woman were injured after a man escaped a corrections center work crew, stole a pickup truck and then crashed in Delaware, state police said.
Clifford David, 33, of Delaware, was being held at the Sussex Community Corrections Center in Georgetown, Delaware. The center is a Level 4 facility for offenders who are transitioning back into the community and is not secured like a Level 5 prison, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Correction wrote. Offenders at the center are allowed to leave the facility to go to work and seek jobs or attend approved treatment sessions.
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, David was working a work crew detail in the Harrington area when he escaped and stole a Chevrolet Silverado, investigators said.
At some point that day, David arrived at a home on the 16000 block of Whitesville Road in Delmar, Delaware. He then fled from the home in the stolen vehicle with an unidentified 25-year-old woman and three children – ages 1, 2, and 7 – inside, police said. While fleeing, David stopped the vehicle and removed the children from the pickup truck, according to investigators. However, the 25-year-old woman then pulled the 1-year-old child and the 2-year-old child back inside the vehicle, police said. Before David drove away again with the two kids and the woman, a witness took the 7-year-old child into custody, according to investigators. Police said the 7-year-old was not injured.
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David continued driving southbound at a high speed along August Road, police said. He then failed to negotiate a curve, causing the pickup truck to enter a ditch and overturn, according to investigators. The woman and two children – who were all unrestrained – were ejected from the vehicle, police said. They were all taken to hospitals with serious injuries.
David then fled the scene after the crash, police said. Responding troopers searched the area and then obtained warrants for his arrest. On Wednesday, Sept. 25, around 7 a.m., troopers found David on Sussex Highway near Salt Barn Road in Laurel, Delaware, according to investigators. He was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, theft of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an injury crash and multiple traffic offenses.
David was arraigned and then committed to the Sussex County Correctional Institution on a $21,000 secured bond.
