Work-release prisoner Aaron Tyrone Mims had been working five days a week for Limestone County when bad news prompted him to “lose his mind,” steal and wreck a county vehicle, and get arrested, one official said.

Convicted in 2003 in Lee County on a charge of attempted murder, Mims had served 13 years of a 35-year sentence for trying to kill a man named Adam Moore.

In seeking relief from his sentence in 2011, Mims sent a letter to a judge, telling him what he had learned, how he had improved and how he was destined to become an artist. He even sent the judge one of his sketches.

Mims was doing good work at the District 3 shed on Zehner Road until Nov. 9, said District 3 Limestone County Commissioner Jason Black.

“We had him weed-eating around the guard rails, helping flag when we had workers out, and doing cleaning and maintenance at the shop,” Black said. “Then, somehow, he found out this morning that he had been denied parole and had five more years. This was his second time before the parole board.”

Mims stole a white Dodge work truck worth about $3,500, Black said.

“He just went out the gate and floored it.”

Work-release inmates are allowed to use county work vehicles, the commissioner said.

“They go through training,” Black said. “In some places (other cities and counties), they drive tractors and bush hogs. I treat them no different than I treat any other employee.”

Free

In the stolen truck, Mims headed north on Zehner. Meanwhile, Black was driving down U.S. 72 when he heard the news and called the U.S. Marshals Service and the Decatur work-release center, he said. When he got to Zehner Road, Black realized he had just missed Mims. He caught up with him in time to see the crash.

“He went in the ditch and then ricocheted off a bulldozer on the side of road and went up in the trees,” Black said. “I pulled up when he was getting out of the truck. He was cut all to pieces and covered with blood. He spit blood at me; I still have it on my glasses. There were about seven investigators there before I could blink. It was amazing. They arrested and handcuffed him.”

Limestone County Sheriff’s Deputy Stephen Young, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Office, said Black captured Mims.

Black believes Mims lost his perspective when he heard the bad news Wednesday.

“I feel kind of sorry for him,” he said. “He lost his mind and I can understand why — he’s already been in 13 years.”