Photo by voteprime.

Police in Fairfax, Va. had quite a morning.

At about 3 a.m. this morning, a prisoner escaped from Inova Fairfax Hospital after overpowering a guard there and stealing his gun. He was finally apprehended just before noon in Southeast D.C. The Post reports that the prisoner, 42-year-old Wossen Assaye, was arrested after he was spotted on a Metrobus near Minnesota Avenue and 25th Street SE.

Assaye, who was arrested for and being held on federal charges for armed bank robbery, was in the custody of a private security company when he “overpowered one guard who was alone with him in the hospital room while another guard went on a restroom break,” according to the Post. Assaye was first sent to the hospital because “he put a bedsheet around his neck and dove off one of the tiers of the Alexandria jail” and suffered a broken nose.

After escaping from the hospital, Assaye then hijacked a car:

After the hospital escape, police think Assaye fled into a nearby neighborhood. At some point, they said, he got into the trunk of a 2002 silver Toyota Camry and waited for an “unknown amount of time.” When a woman got in and started driving, Assaye kicked through the trunk into the back seat, causing the car to crash, police said. He then took control of the car.

But Assaye soon abandoned that car and later hijacked another one near Annandale, Va. After which he made his way to D.C. where he was finally caught. Assaye, who is suspected of being involved in a dozen bank robberies, has also been charged with escaping federal officials because of this morning’s stunt.

This wasn’t the only excitement for Fairfax police today. In a totally unrelated incident, Fairfax County police were involved in a high-speed chase on the Fairfax County Parkway near I-95.

The whole thing started when an officer attempted to stop a pickup truck for traffic violations this morning at approximately 7:41 a.m. near Route 50 and Fairview Park. The driver, who had outstanding warrants, fled, resulting in a high speed chase that concluded in a dramatic finish.

The Post reports the driver was treated for minor injuries as well as two Fairfax County officers and a Virginia State Police Officer.