A Trimble County deputy jailer was transporting an inmate from Louisville to a hearing in Trimble Circuit Court when the man kicked out the window of the county’s transport vehicle and escaped on Interstate 265 in Jefferson County.

Trimble Deputy Jailer Wayne Law was transporting Norman Kenneth Wolfe, 31, from the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, where Wolfe was being held on theft charges, to a pre-trial hearing shortly before 9 a.m. on Thursday.

At one point on the trip, Wolfe allegedly apologized to Law and then kicked out a rear window of the department Ford Explorer with his feet while the vehicle was traveling almost 70 mph near the interchange of I-71 and I-265.

Law said he stopped the vehicle to try to subdue Wolfe because the inmate was hanging halfway out of the vehicle in traffic. When the SUV came to a stop, Wolfe had climbed entirely out of the vehicle before it had stopped and was fleeing the scene on foot across I-265, his departure made easier by the fact that his feet were not shackled.

Police from multiple agencies began a coordinated search with multiple officers and tracking dogs and advised schools and businesses in the area to take precautions.

Investigators were later informed that the inmate briefly kidnapped two people from the 8500 block of Brownsboro Road, near Goose Creek Road. He then allegedly forced them to drive him to an area near the intersection of River Road and Edith Road near Louisville Champions Park. The victims were unharmed.

Police later briefly searched the Mellwood Avenue area in Louisville but said the searched turned up nothing.

Wolfe, who escaped wearing orange jail clothing, is still on the run. Court records show he is a 6-foot-1, 171-pound white male and his last known address was the 7500 block of West Brook Road in Louisville. Anyone who spots him should call 911.

According to LMPD spokesman Aaron Ellis, Wolfe is currently charged with first-degree burglary, fleeing and evading police and for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He also has previous felony convictions in Clark and Johnson counties in Indiana for charges ranging from possession of methamphetamine to auto theft, domestic battery, resisting law enforcement and escape.

Trimble County Jailer Bobby Temple said the theft Wolfe is charged with in Trimble County is in connection with a burglary at Bedford hemp producer, PHARM CBD, and Wolfe faces up to 40 years prison if convicted.

(Information for this story was also gathered by Paxton Media Group and The Associated Press)