LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The inmate who escaped out of the back of a law enforcement vehicle Thursday morning in east Louisville was caught and arrested more than 48 hours later in Clifton.

Louisville Metro Police said 31-year-old Norman Wolfe was seen by officers around 10:30 a.m. Saturday sitting in the passenger seat of a car near Washington and Campbell streets in Butchertown. LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell said after officers stopped the car, the driver was ordered out, but Wolfe jumped into the driver's seat and sped away.

Mitchell said the short pursuit ended and Wolfe was arrested about 2 miles away near Brownsboro Road and Lindsey Avenue in Clifton when the vehicle "became disabled." 

Wolfe, a convicted felon, was being transported north to Trimble County in an unmarked SUV for a court date Thursday morning when he kicked out the back window, jumped out and ran across Interstate 265 shortly before 9 a.m., according to LMPD spokesman Aaron Ellis.

As police searched east Louisville for Wolfe, stores closed and schools took security measures. An LMPD officer can be heard in the dispatch calls saying they had found Wolfe's orange jumpsuit behind a motel.

As officers searched from the skies and the ground, LMPD said Wolfe kidnapped a couple from Brownsboro Road, about a mile from the Paddock Shops, and forced them to drive him 10 miles away to River Road near Edith Road, where he got out and the couple drove away unharmed. 

Mitchell said Wolfe was transported to University of Louisville Hospital to receive treatment for several injuries related to his initial escape Thursday. He'll be transported back to Louisville Metro Corrections when he's released from the hospital.

This story will be updated.

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