A Kansas State Trooper K-9 unit searches a field for a teen who escaped from the Juvenile Detention Center in North Lawrence. The teen escaped Friday morning and was later found underneath the Interstate 70 overpass near North Third Street.

Lawrence police officers, sheriff's office officials and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers hold an escapee from the Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center face down, left, near a turnpike bridge Friday morning. The boy was returned to the center after an 80-minute manhunt.

A teen who escaped from the Douglas County Juvenile Detention Center on Friday was found hiding under a turnpike bridge after an 80-minute manhunt that used police dogs and a helicopter.

The 17-year-old Lawrence boy was seen about 9 a.m. making his escape by a staff member at the North Lawrence center, 330 Industrial Lane.

The search led to a lockdown at Woodlawn School, 508 Elm St. The building’s exterior doors were locked and students were kept inside, said Rick Gammill, the Lawrence school district’s director of special operations, transport and safety.

Principal Jeanne Fridell said parents notified the school of the search, and the school learned of the capture when a staff member saw information on ljworld.com.

Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Fellers said decisions to notify schools of certain situations is made on a case-by-case basis.

“The evidence indicated that he went north, and in fact, he was north of (the school),” Fellers said.

Bobbi Reid, mother of a Woodlawn second-grader, called the school about the police search. She was with residents of a North Third Street home watching the search. She said police officers wouldn’t tell them what was going on.

“It was basically, ‘Go on about your business,'” Reid said.

Officers watching the perimeter of an area being searched might not have time to talk to the public, Fellers said.

Pam Weigand, director of Douglas County Youth Services, which operates the detention center, declined to discuss how the escape occurred.

“We’re going to be reviewing our policies and we’ll review the physical aspects of our facility to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Weigand said.

The escapee was captured at 10:20 a.m. under the turnpike bridge just east of the Lawrence eastern terminal. Weigand said she didn’t know the boy’s level of risk to the community.

The escape occurred while Douglas County Youth Services was conducting school classes at the center. The youth who escaped was performing school work before his escape, Weigand said.

The teen has charges pending against him in juvenile court. Weigand declined to say what the charges are. The district attorney’s office did not respond to calls.

The boy was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for examination and then returned to the detention center, Weigand said.

It was the first escape at the center since it opened in 1995.