Louisiana law enforcement are looking for an escaped inmate who pepper sprayed a deputy and stole her patrol vehicle.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said that Leon Ruffin to a hospital around noon on Sunday after he reportedly had a seizure. A deputy went to the facility to pick him up and return him to jail about 6 and a half hours later, WBRZ reported.

She put Ruffin into the back of the patrol car but stopped the vehicle before getting out of the parking lot when the inmate made some type of disturbance. When the deputy opened the back door, he pepper sprayed her and took off in the marked patrol vehicle, leaving behind a walking boot he had been wearing.

The deputy fired three shots at the vehicle as he sped away, but it’s not known if he was hit.

Lopinto said it wasn’t known where Ruffin got the pepper spray he used. The deputy, who was taken to a hospital for treatment, still had her pepper spray, taser, and service gun.

The patrol car was found abandoned in Algiers about three hours after the escape, Lopinto said, adding that he has no known firearms but should be considered armed and dangerous anyway.

Ruffin, a US citizen, had been in custody since July 2023 on a second degree murder charge.

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[Featured image: Leon Ruffin/Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office]