An attempt to escape by two inmates at the Webster County Jail in Fort Dodge failed early Sunday morning. The incident started at around two o’clock when 25-year-old Amanda Kay Bever overpowered a female correctional officer.

Bever then choked the officer to the point of incapacitation. She then took the officer’s flashlight used for night time cell checks and used it as a weapon striking her repeatedly on and around the head. Bever then took the correctional officer’s keys and opened the door of a cell housing 23-year-old Rochelle Watts.

The pair left the jail and escaped down the stairwell leading to the first floor lobby of the Webster County Law Enforcement Center. Both Bever and Watts were apprehended on the second floor of the building by a male correctional officer and two Fort Dodge police officers. The correctional officer assaulted was taken to Trinity Regional Medical Center for treatment and later released.