Police Chief Caroll McCullough says four inmates escaped early Thursday from the Kay County jail in Newkirk, Okla. That’s just south of the Kansas border, directly north of Oklahoma City.

About 12:30 a.m. Friday, a Branson officer saw a vehicle “being operated in a careless and imprudent manner” and stopped it near the Wal-Mart store on West Missouri 76. While the officer was talking to the driver, the passenger, Benito Bustos Jr., 45, jumped out and ran.

Bustos jumped over a retaining wall at the east end of the Vista Plaza and broke both legs. McCullough said an ambulance took Bustos to the hospital in Branson for surgery.

Police took the driver, Ponca Green, 29, to the Branson police department. McCullough said Green was in a holding cell waiting to be booked when he tried to strangle himself by twisting his shirt around his neck. An ambulance took him to the hospital in Branson and then to a hospital in Springfield.

McCullough said officers will recommend the two men be charged with tampering with a motor vehicle, driving with a revoked license and careless and imprudent driving. Bustos was in the Kay County jail on charges involving illegal drugs and assault with a dangerous weapon. Green was awaiting transfer to an Oklahoma prison after receiving a five-year sentence for robbery.

McCullough said two escapees were still at large on Friday morning. One is Doyle Bertschy, 44, who was in jail on burglary and stealing charges. The other is Kenneth Sherrod, 53, who was in jail for obtaining property by bogus check.

Bertschy is white, 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, with blue eyes. Sherrod is white, 5-foot-8, 218 pounds, with green eyes.

The Baxter County (Ark.) Sheriff's Department says Bertschy has family in Baxter County. It said they may be driving a 2007 Chrysler 300, Silver in Color, Oklahoma Plate # 379-DMX.

Anyone with information about the escapees or this vehicle can call the Baxter County Sheriff’s Department at (870) 425-7000 or the Kay County Sheriff’s Department at (580) 362-2517.