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SYLACAUGA, Ala. (AP) — A man who was shot to death by an Alabama sheriff's deputy over the weekend was a state prison escapee who had walked away from a residential center in Birmingham in July, corrections officials said Monday.
Prison officials identified the dead man as Derick Davis, 23, of Sylacauga. He was serving a three-year sentence on a drug conviction when he left a transition center on July 17, said prison spokesman Bob Horton.
Davis was shot to death by a Talladega County deputy in Sylacauga about 2 p.m. Saturday, authorities said. The officer was not injured.
Authorities have released no details about what led to the shooting near B.B. Comer High School. County officials turned over the investigation to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, where spokesman Jess Thornton said details including whether Davis was armed weren't available.
Horton said Davis was sentenced in January for drug possession in Talladega County as a youthful offender. Further details on the case weren't immediately available.
A woman who identified herself as Davis' mother, Patricia Davis, told WIAT-TV (http://bit.ly/1KO2V9k ) she was not able to get any information about her son's death.
"Every time I call to find out anything, they told me they didn't have nobody to talk to me," said Davis.
Davis was assigned to the prison system's Supervised Re-entry Program when he left the facility in Birmingham, Horton said. Prisoners can get employment assistance, counseling and substance abuse treatment through the program, he said.
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