Video shows inmate escaping custody at Milwaukee airport

MILWAUKEE (KTRK) -- Federal prisoner Robert Johnson, Jr. pushed his way past an unarmed guard Tuesday night at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport.

Investigators said Johnson got off a plane and asked to use the bathroom. Once his handcuffs were undone, he punched his escort and ran.

A second camera outside shows Johnson running past waiting cars and to the parking garage.

Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas said his deputies didn't know the prisoner was coming to the airport.

"I think it was very unfortunate. It jeopardized the safety of passengers, both here at Mitchell and the airline," said Lucas.

The sheriff said a private company called U.S. Corrections was transporting Johnson from Laredo, Texas to Rock County, Wisconsin.

Johnson is facing robbery and cocaine charges. Neither the private prisoner transport company or the United States Marshals Service have responded about the escape.

"Certainly the U.S. Marshals is conducting the investigation and trying to apprehend the individual and take him back into custody," Lucas said. "But in the meantime there was some procedures that need to be looked at to insure the safety of the flying public."