It's So Cold in Kentucky, an Escaped Prisoner Made One Drastic Move to Get Warm

Robert Vick successfully escaped from the Blackburn Correctional Center in Lexinton, Ky., on Sunday without a hitch. And he might have gotten away with it, too, if not for some inclement weather.

Robert Vick mugshot (photo credit: Department of Corrections/AP

Vick, 42, turned himself into authorities the next day because it was too cold, according to CBS News affiliate WKYT.

With windchill, temperatures felt as low as 20 below zero that day. It was enough for Vick to walk into a nearby motel and ask that the clerk call the police.

"This was definitely of his own volition," a Lexington police spokeswoman told the Associated Press. "It's cold out there, too cold to run around. I can understand why the suspect would turn himself in."

Much of the U.S. is experiencing extreme cold weather, which scientists have called the "polar vortex."

Vick would have been dressed in prison clothes, including khaki pants, a shirt and a jacket at the time of his escape, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections told the AP.

He was serving a six-year sentence for burglary and also a five-year sentence for criminal possession of a forged instrument.

Vick was examined for possible hypothermia after he turned himself in. He is expected to face charges for the escape.

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