Canada

Helicopter Breaks 2 Inmates Out of Canadian Prison in Newly Released Video

The high-flying escape sprang the inmates from the prison in Quebec, but only for a few hours

Newly released video footage shows a daring, though ill-fated, helicopter jailbreak that sparked a manhunt in Canada three years ago.

Two inmates are seen clinging to a rope as a helicopter in broad daylight lifts them out of St-Jérôme prison in Quebec.

Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau and Danny Provencal were arrested the same day in March 2013, not far from the jail, after provincial police tracked the helicopter, according to The Associated Press. Two others were arrested in connection with the escape, and the pilot was taken to the hospital.

The footage was released by a Quebec court Tuesday as part of a trial against Hudon-Barbeau for unrelated crimes. According to the CBC, a local police union president told Radio-Canada that guards couldn't intervene with the escape, saying it was unclear if the chopper's occupants were armed: "It's only in the movies that you can shoot down a helicopter with a handgun," he said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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