From staff reports
An inmate at the Venango County jail who escaped from UPMC Northwest in May after striking a jail guard at the hospital was sentenced Tuesday in Venango County Court.
Bruce William Miller II, 43, of Franklin, was handed down jail terms on three charges by President Judge Marie T. Veon.
He was sentenced to 12 to 24 months confinement on a charge of aggravated assault-attempts to cause or causes bodily injury to designated individuals, 12 to 24 months confinement on an escape charge and six to 24 months confinement on a charge of flight to avoid apprehension, trial, punishment.
Miller was taken to the hospital for medical treatment in the overnight hours of May 19 after injuring himself in his cell in the jail, Franklin state police said at the time.
Miller struck the jail corrections officer as he was in the process of receiving a CT scan in the emergency room at the hospital, then fled from the hospital at about 4:40 a.m. that morning, police said.
Police said that when the jail guard removed the metal handcuffs from Miller for the scan, Miller shoved the officer up against the wall and struck him in the back of the head with his fist before fleeing down the hallway and out to the parking lot through the emergency room lobby.
Miller had been in jail in connection with an incident earlier in May in which a Franklin city police officer found him during a search hiding under a blanket in a garage near Center Street in Franklin.
Police said they had been searching for Miller because Mercer County had arrest warrants out for him.
At that time, after being arrested and handcuffed, Miller kicked the officer and caused him to fall back into the garage, whereupon he fled, police said.
Police said they gave chase and found Miller hiding in a Pacific Avenue house, still handcuffed, where police took him into custody.
Miller was also sentenced Tuesday in that case to six to 24 months confinement on a charge of criminal trespass-enter structure and four to 24 months confinement on a resisting arrest charge.
