Suburban Father Fought Off Escapee Conley

PALOS HILLS (CBS) -- Chained and wheelchair bound, a captured Kenneth Conley appeared in court today.

After his daring jailbreak more than two weeks ago, Conley is captured and back in lock up.
His taste of freedom was short lived and not without a violent incident.

CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli talked with a suburban father who bravely fought off Conley as he broke into the man's home.

Dan Katula talks about where police finally caught up with jail escapee Kenneth Conley. But they took him down only after Katula softened him up.

"I punched him in the face," said Katula.

He did that after Katula says Conley ran up to his screen door Friday and attempted to barge in while trying to elude police.

"The guy comes over and opens the door and says please let me in. I was like yeah, that's not happening," said Katula.

But Conley wasn't taking no for an answer and tried to squeeze inside. So Katula fearing for his four young children forced him out.

"I kind of just hit the guy with my shoulder. He backed off a little bit. I punched him in the face. Closed the door," said Katula.

That's when neighbor David Griffith saw the commotion from a nearby balcony.

"We seen a whole bunch of police officers on one man," said Griffith

Then they placed Conley under arrest.

"They picked him up and his shirt was ripped and he was bleeding and they walked him all the way down to the police station," said Griffith.

The breakthrough in the case came from two maintenance workers who spotted a man sleeping in the basement of an apartment which is right across the street from the police department.

That lead officers to Conley who fought one officer off before he met his match in Katula and ended his more than two week run from justice.

Conley was caught in the same complex he once called home.

The convicted bank robber lived in the Scenic Tree complex nearly ten years ago.

Conley and his cell mate, Joseph Jose Banks, escaped from the MCC last month by sliding down more than fifteen floors using ropes made from stolen bedsheets.

The extent of his injuries is not exactly known, but he did go to the hospital after he was caught.