Lawyer: Worker accused of aiding jailbreak says he shut off water to unclog toilet, not help escape

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A worker charged with aiding the New Orleans jailbreak by 10 prisoners shut off water to unclog a toilet, not to allow the men to cut the pipe to create an opening for their escape, the employee’s lawyer told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the jailbreak.

Authorities had said earlier that Williams had been instructed by one of the inmates to turn off the water to a toilet. Behind the toilet was a hole that ten men slipped through in Friday’s escape.

“It would seem obvious to me that filling up the toilet, clogging the toilet, was a portion of the escapee’s plan,” attorney Michael Kennedy said. “They would know that whoever the maintenance person was would have to turn off the water…because it was overflowing into the tier.”