Published: June 26, 2009 01:37 pm      

Cops: Nashville policeman shot by Miss. escapee

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Police said an escaped inmate from a Mississippi prison was taken into custody in the shooting of a Nashville police officer, who was in critical condition Friday.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a news release that prison escapee Joseph Jackson, 29, told police he shot the officer during a routine traffic stop.

Sgt. Mark Chesnut, 44, underwent surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center and was in critical condition on Friday morning, a hospital spokesman said. He underwent surgery on Thursday and Friday and was scheduled for more surgery over the next several days.

Jackson was serving a life sentence at the Delta Correctional Facility for two aggravated robberies and aggravated assault.

According to the Mississippi Department of Corrections, Jackson escaped Thursday during a visit to an eye doctor in Greenwood, Miss. An accomplice entered the office and fired a shot into the air. One of the two took a weapon from Jackson’s guard.

Police suspect 25-year-old Courtney Logan of Louisville, Ky., was the accomplice. Logan was driving a rented car from Louisville when the two were pulled over in Nashville later that day for a traffic violation.

According to Nashville police, Chesnut was seated in his police car, checking the tags on the rental car and Logan’s license when Jackson walked up and opened fire from the passenger side.

Chesnut was wearing a bullet resistant vest but was wounded in the abdomen through a part of his body that was unprotected.

Chesnut was able to report the shooting and Jackson and Logan were quickly spotted and arrested.

Logan, a convicted robber in Kentucky, and Jackson both face attempted murder charges.