By JACK BROOK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A worker charged with aiding the New Orleans jailbreak by 10 prisoners shut off water to unclog a toilet, not to allow the men to cut the pipe to create an opening for their escape, the employee’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
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Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the jailbreak.
Authorities previously said that Williams had been instructed by one of the inmates to turn off the water to a toilet. Behind the toilet was a hole that 10 men slipped through in Friday’s escape.
“It would seem obvious to me that filling up the toilet, clogging the toilet, was a portion of the escapee’s plan,” attorney Michael Kennedy said. “They would know that whoever the maintenance person was would have to turn off the water … because it was overflowing into the tier.”
Williams told law enforcement during an interview that an inmate had threatened to “shank” him if he did not turn off the water, authorities said.
This undated photo released by the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office shows Sterling Williams. (Louisiana Attorney General’s Office via AP)
Williams had plenty of opportunity to not only report the threat but also the escape plan, authorities said. They asserted that because Williams turned the water off, the inmates were “able to successfully make good” on their escape.
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