BY DAVID GRANT LONG

An escapee from the San Juan County, N.M., jail who last summer allegedly led police on a three-state chase after attacking a deputy and stealing his patrol car is back in custody, thanks to an anonymous tip to the Cortez police.

Anthony B. Jones, 28, was arrested on Feb. 9 after a brief struggle at the Giant gas station and booked for DUI, according to the police report, and was also placed on a hold for extradition back to New Mexico on charges of assaulting a police officer and vehicle theft.

The suspect apparently had remained at large since his alleged getaway, although the abandoned patrol car was recovered the same day it was taken.

In August, Jones was spotted outside a Farmington liquor store by a San Juan County deputy shortly after fleeing from the jail, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Lynn Izatt, and was run down on foot by the deputy. But despite having only one arm, Izatt said, Jones managed to wrest the officer’s pepper spray from him and squirt it into his eyes before help arrived and he was subdued.

However, after being placed in the back of a patrol car while the two officers retrieved evidence from the scene of the assault, Jones managed to free his right hand, which was cuffed to the back of his pants, then kick out a window, climb through and get back in the front, Izatt explained.

This sparked a pursuit that involved several law-enforcement agencies as it progressed through Colorado and into Utah.

After the lead pursuit car ran out of gas, police lost the suspect’s trail, and the slightly damaged stolen patrol car was spotted by helicopter about 90 minutes later near Hatch.