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Graham Hughes / The Canadian Press via AP
Police vehicles block a road just outside the town of Chertsey, Quebec, on Sunday, during a search for escaped prisoners.
Two Quebec inmates climbed up a rope into a hovering helicopter to make a daring daylight escape Sunday from a jail northwest of Montreal, authorities said.
Quebec provincial police said later that they had arrested three people about 30 miles north of the Saint-Jerome jail from which the inmates escaped. One of those arrested was 36-year-old inmate Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau. Authorities late Sunday located the second inmate and said a security perimeter had been set up around the area where 33-year-old Danny Provencal has been found.
Earlier on Sunday, police received a call from the staff at the Saint-Jerome jail, reporting the escape around 2:20 p.m., said Quebec provincial police Sgt. Benoit Richard.
The jail's warden told police that Hudon-Barbeau and Provencal had grabbed a rope dropped from the helicopter to make their getaway, Richard said.
Quebec provincial police tracked down the helicopter used in the escape on Sunday afternoon to Mont-Tremblant, about 53 miles (85 kilometers) away from the jail but only the chopper's pilot was still at the scene. He was taken to a local hospital, Richard said.
"He's going to be questioned later on by investigators, within the next couple of hours," Richard said, adding that it's too early to say what the pilot's role was in the escape.
A Montreal radio station, 98.5 FM, said it received a call Sunday from a man claiming to be Hudon-Barbeau, who said he was "ready to die" as he tried to evade police.
Yves Galarneau, the correctional services manager who oversees the Saint-Jerome jail said he'd never seen anything like the dramatic escape in more than three decades on the job.
Galarneau said there are no security measures in place at the jail to prevent a helicopter from swooping down from above.
"As far as I know, it's a first in Quebec," he told reporters at the scene. "It's exceptional."
The Saint-Jerome jail, located about 37 miles northwest of Montreal, experienced a mini-riot by about a dozen prisoners a little over a month ago.
In that incident, police were called in to secure the outside of the jail, which holds about 480 inmates, and the jail's staff used pepper spray to disperse the mob.
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Canadian Primates use helicopter for escape?
.
King Kong remake? It's absolutely worth of Follywood... It has everything...all the drama ...from Chimpan-A to Chimpan-Zee.
No , Swordfish II : The Domestic Terrorist
This was done before in Mexico around 1975. I'ts cool to think it could still work now.
Worthy of Ricky, Julian and Bubbles.
"I'ts cool to think it could still work now."
Please enlighten all of us why criminals escaping?? What if the kill someone will that be really cool? NOT
What if they rape someone how cool is that? NOT AT ALL COOL
" Richard said, adding that it's too early to say what the pilot's role was in the escape."
Ah, wait for it......he flew the helicopter?
@AKRandy----If you were ever stuck in a jail in Mexico, you'd think it was cool.
LOL Number one I am not dumb enough to break the law in Mexico.
Number two: I never visit country's run by DRUG cartels!
Marrywhatever:
Yea, I met him just before the FBI caught him. I didn't know he was an escapee, just that he had some of the best pot I'd smoked ever. His name was Scott, he had worked for Boeing's & owned his own welding shop. He also had a pilots licence & a yen for big money. Scott was flying pot over the border every week when he was sold out by a friend & the Mexican Federalies shot him down on take off. After escaping in the helicopter & getting caught again, he had to finish his sentence in Mexico & then set another one out here in the US. It really sucked.
Scott if your still out there, I met you at Joe's house near Paine Field, they called me Doc back then. I hope things are going a lot better for you now.
marywhatever - It didn't work. Even in this story, one has been caught and the other pinned down. What idiot would think these days that they wouldn't be able to track that helicopter and catch them in short order?
we have them, called armed gaurds in watch towers
~~~~~~~~ Hummmmmmmmmm Well planned escape ... fly 30 miles and get caught?~~~ lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~Sounds like Larry, Daryl, Daryls company .. "Anything For A Buck"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yyB06HvAjI
You do live in the U.S., don't you?
And if you do, don't kid yourself. Big Pharma controls the whole population with their drugs and power more than any "illegal" drug cartel.
Almost worked they should have changed mode of travel frequently the helicopter was a good tool to get out but after 10 min or so its useless by that time you want to be in some thing else and only long enough to switch again, to bad they did not have some snowmobiles waiting in the back of a truck. the more frequently you change the mode of transportation the more complicated tracking becomes, and do the unexpected change direction, by the time they figure out you are headed north you should be south of them. don't even attempt to breach their perimeter it will dissolve on its own. they did good on the escape but piss poor on the evade.
Deb forgot her tin foil hat today.
edog, could you at least add something meaningful to the discussion and for once contribute something of substance? Your immature and unintellectual quips have become old and boring, unless I've misread you and you're doing it just to garner my attention.
This is old news. The escapees are back in custody.
Oh Deb. You paranoid libitard. You blame the government or Wall street for all your problems. You either use sweeping generalities or absolutes ("Big Pharma controls the whole population...") in an attempt to make a point. Really? The whole population? This indicates a lack of education or reasoning ability. Try providing some empirical evidence or a verifiable source when attempting to make a point. Then it wont sound like a paranoid rant. Now get back to whatever community college you dropped out of so you don't have to spend the rest of your life serving the rest of us our morning Latte.
Is this the plot for the next Die Hard movie?
The Die Hardiest, Eh.
I woulda been shooting the hell out of that helicopter if I was a guard witnessing it happen... Unauthorized helicopter STEALING inmates? Woulda been a pigeon shoot.
it was just done on The Following....
Cameron - Other news reports say that the pilot of the helicopter was hijacked. Law Enforcement doesn't just "kill" before knowing who and what is involved. Luckily for all of us, you are not in Law Enforcement.
:-)
Dear all thepeoplerights...this was Mexico....there, you are shot and THEN questioned...I would guess the tower guards were paid off to NOT shoot...
Cameron-2749593
Or try for the rope and watch them drop from 200 feet like a few sacks of potatoes....
@2little2late; how did Mexico get north of us? do you read the post and not the story? Think French, think Canada, think Quebec. careful the French eat frogs leg's. yum, yum! now that I think about it the French will eat anything.
Cameron - Mexico? What? What article are you reading? This was Canada.
Sorry - above message was for 2little2late - not Cameron.
They got away in a helicopter and only went 30 miles? Might have been a little smarter to beat out of there as far as possible.
Um, more than 50 km north of Saint-Jerome and there is nothing but bush. Really cold bush. Why go further if you don't have to? Not much up there, they would be pretty easy to find. The faster the chopper lands the quicker they can blend in.
Really cold bush? Sounds like my high school.
But HOLLYWOOD never inspires crime or GUN violence!!
Sooooooo, what's your point?!
AKRandy~So, is the suggestion here that, without Hollywood putting a helicopter escape scene in a movie, no one would ever have conceived of the idea on their own? Really? This was such a clever move that the hoi polloi need an instructional video to inspire us? Well, I am ever thankful that I saw that one movie where people were eating, or I'd starve to death!
Galarneau said there are no security measures in place at the jail to prevent a helicopter from swooping down from above...
No armed guards? doesn't take much to bring a chopper down.
Eh, they don't like guns much in Canada, y'know.
Maybe the US should take notes on gun use form Canada.
I thought all you had to do escape a Canadian jail was just politely ask to leave.
Prison Officials added: "We don't even know why they did it, eh. The doors aren't even locked."
North miss Tessmacher!
Did the prison guards not have guns or something? What the hell is going on up there?
that method was tried before by a drug dealer named albert victory i think in the 1980s and failed
It makes me think of one of the old Superman movies where Lex Luthor escaped a prison at night in a helicopter I think.
It was a hot air balloon in the movie.
Just a small role, nothing really... other than he flew to the prison, picked two guys up and then flew them away.
Since the pilot is in the hospital, I'd guess he was forced to do this at gunpoint and after he landed he wasn't needed anymore.
It's foolish to make assumptions.
Consider this scenario: someone grabbed the pilots kid and held them hostage in order to get him to the job.
Vermont Girl,
If it's foolish to make assumptions, then what do you call your second sentence?
Basically switch out your word "scenario" with "assumption" and you have the exact same thing going on... LOL
Wash (Firefly): That's right, of course. 'Cause they wouldn't arrest me if we got boarded. I'm just the pilot. I could always say that I was flying the ship by accident.
LOL Heyseed. Ya, I'm pretty sure they have armed guards. Probably just better judgement than you in deciding that shooting down a helicopter that might have ended up killing all sorts of folks on the ground wasn't the best strategy. In particular in a situation that has never happened before. But thanks for your input.
I'm sure there are tons of people just outside of the prison where they could have forced the copter to land..but thinking of where and now to force the copter down didn't occur to them...or you...
I keep telling my son there are no new plots on TV and this shows there are no new plots in life.
new or old, some @!$%# is just cool as hell! I'd like to see YOU pull off a daring escape from a high security facility using a fixed rotor aircraft!! You probably couldn't escape your own living room to get some regular exercise! something at least the inmates get 1 hour of per day...
Cameron - What kind of a putz are you? Oh yes, escapes - we should all be so proud of criminals hijacking a pilot. You not only need exercise, you need a brain transplant.
Um.... Yea, no clue... other than he piloted the escape vehicle? WOW.. LOL
Gosh, you are clever!
But seriously, though, there are unknowns. Was he forced to do it? Was he an accomplice? Why did he stay behind? Why did he get taken to the hospital? Still lots of unanswered questions. I guess it is lucky you aren't in charge of the investigation.
Yes I am :)
Think of it this way... Did the people escaping just....show up expecting a helicopter to show up? Something like this takes at least some planning. In that case, they had a pilot lined up to fly the helicopter. I doubt they showed up at the airport and just stood around waiting for a pilot to show up that they could "coerce" into flying for them, (them being the people busting their buddies out of prison).
mission unpossible
....and they're on their way to the California to apply for a green card and a drivers license.
We like the Canadians here in CA, eh? except maybe the criminals...
I suggest reading The mystery of Cloomber (among other books), by Arthur Conan Doyle, you will quickly realise that this "eh" everybody makes so much fun of when they mention Canadians, is actually originally from England.
Go big or stay
home! in jail!Didn't make it, better try tunneling next time.
Ground is too frozen for the plastic spoons.
NEVER use the word "daring" in connection with criminals. It implies a certain admiration for their pluck.
" France has had more recorded helicopter escape attempts than any other country, with at least 11"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_helicopter_prison_escapes
How did they get the chopper to start?
American Patroit: By pushing the "START" button, how else are you going to do it? In that Bell Helicopter manufactures all of its commercial rotor craft very near to the jail location (Mirabel), starting a helicopter in cold weather, if that is what you were alluding to, would not be a problem. In addition, the aircraft was most likely gas turbine, not piston engine powered, so cold weather would have no effect on power plant operation.
Cameron: It is either "fixed wing" or "rotor wing" aircraft, not fixed rotor as you stated
they turned it on and pressed the starter button
What the hell is a "Patroit" anyway?
.. zzZ
If you are gonna do it, do it in style.
Not movie worthy since they caught so fast. Idiots.
The same thing happened in Belgium within the past 5 years.
It happened twice!
How? How could this possibly happen in Superior Canada? This must be an early April fool's joke they do tell us. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Is just an early test! Almost had us going there reporter person! I now fart with respect as the Great Terrance & Phillip would do. Don't worry! It never happened! World is still normal.
They said Quebec, not Canada..I'd say most Canadian's don't think Quebec is part of Canada anymore, nor do they/we want it to be. They can keep the frogs, and eat em too.
excel-3995973
Whether you like it or not Quebec is very much a part of Canada. And what's with the "frogs" comment? Did they hurt your feelings in some way?