Florida prisoner flees in chopper

The escaped prisoner, Steven Whitsett, 28, was convicted in 1994 of lewd and lascivious assault and sexual battery, Florida8217;s legal term for rape, on a child under 16 years of age, state records showed.

He finished his prison term in 1999 and under a state law was held for further treatment at the Martin Treatment Centre pending a civil trial. The centre is adjacent to a state prison, the Martin Correctional Centre.

When the helicopter landed in the treatment centre yard at about 1 pm 1700 GMT, Whitsett scrambled aboard, a state corrections official said. The chopper took off, cleared the razor-wire fence but made it only about 100 yards 91 metres before crashing.

Whitsett and the pilot were believed to be armed, a sheriff8217;s spokeswoman said.