Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputies did a good job of quickly corralling a man who tried to escape from the Chautauqua County Jail on July 11.

A perimeter was quickly set up after Eric Ryals made it to the jail’s roof. Unlike other jail escapes, deputies were actively chasing Ryals as he made his way to the jail’s roof, and officers got to Ryals quickly after he landed on the jail lawn to put an end to the escapade.

In all, the incident could have been much worse. Deputies handled the attempted escape well and there wasn’t much danger to the public. Deputies have obviously trained for such situations given the expeditious way Ryals’ attempted escape was handled.

We have no doubt Sheriff Jim Quattrone has already dissected this incident to look for possible weaknesses in the jail’s security. But, after living with manhunt in the southern part of the county after Michael Burham’s escape from the Warren County Jail last year, and remembering full well the havoc Ralph Phillips wreaked throughout the county after his escape from the Erie County Correctional Facility in 2006, it it’s our opinion that county officials should join with Quattrone to investigate how Ryals made it to the roof in the first place.

Perhaps that review will show it was a lucky coincidence that Ryals was able to get to the roof. But perhaps the review will reveal a shortcoming in the jail’s construction that needs to be remedied to prevent a future escape attempt – and the potential for another Burham or Phillips manhunt. Just because this attempted escape had a happy ending doesn’t mean we should be complacent and expect future attempts to have a quick ending as well.