Santa Cruz was on the edge of its seat yesterday during the intense hunt for escaped fugitive Maurice Lamont Ainsworth Jr., who had escaped police custody yesterday while at Dominican Hospital for an MRI. Ainsworth, who is 6 feet 7 inches and weighs 270 pounds, overpowered the one sheriff's deputy who had accompanied him to the hospital, stole her gun, and escaped to a nearby preschool.

Ainsworth then shattered the glass door of the infant room at the preschool and held a gun to a teacher's head. He was about to take off in the teacher's car after obtaining her keys but then saw the swarm of police gaining on him.

The fugitive was then reportedly holding hostage a family who only spoke Russian in their home on English Drive. They were all eventually able to escape unharmed. Ainsworth surrendered peacefully soon after.

[Via Santa Cruz Sentinel]