A Hawaii inmate died Thursday a week after he was struck upon fleeing from a jail.
Matthew J. Ornellas Jr. was critically wounded in a hit-and-run crash just after he ran away from Kauai Community Correctional Center at around 1 a.m. Friday.
Ornellas managed to scale a fence with razor wire and elude correctional officers chasing him after he entered a dense wooded area.
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Officers heard a loud bang from the nearby road and ran to find Ornellas lying unresponsive near the Kuhio Highway.
The 33-year-old’s condition deteriorated at the hospital before he died from his injuries Thursday.
The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the minimum-security inmate was serving time for a drug conviction.
