A teenager awaiting trial in a homicide case who escaped outside a Philadelphia hospital last week was captured on Sunday – with a handcuff key in one of his pockets, police said.
The key that Shane Pryor had on him at the time of his arrest is used to get out of restraints. But there is no evidence he ever used it, said Robert Clark of the US Marshals Service, who caught Pryor, according to the local news outlet WTXF.
Clark did not elaborate on how Pryor obtained the handcuff key. But Clark said law enforcement officers are trained to search for such objects during standard patdowns of people in their custody.
“It is interesting that he had it on his person,” said Clark, who showed reporters the key found on Pryor.
.@USMS_Philly Deputy Clark says during a search of Pryor they found this handcuff key in his pocket @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/eOxjHuHduw
— Kelly Rule (@KellyRuleTV) January 29, 2024
Pryor was 14 when he was charged in an October 2020 homicide and has been in a juvenile facility ever since. He is charged with murder, conspiracy and firearms crimes.
The 17-year-old’s lawyer, Paul DiMaio, has said his client has always maintained his innocence. He noted a judge recently declined a request to send Pryor’s case back to juvenile court, which may have led Pryor to lose hope.
Pryor’s mother had urged her son to turn himself in. She has said the teen fled custody because he turns 18 in two weeks, opening him to being transferred to an adult prison.
Authorities said Pryor fled on Wednesday from the driveway of the emergency room at Children’s hospital of Philadelphia, where he had been taken with a hand injury.
Less than an hour after he fled on foot, the teen was spotted on video getting into a car that drove him away, authorities said. The driver, 18-year-old Michael Diggs, was later arrested.
Diggs is accused of hindering apprehension, escape, criminal conspiracy and use of a communication facility, city police announced on Friday. The city public defender’s office said it had not been assigned to the case.
Security video shows Pryor went in and out of several buildings in the area after his escape, said the Philadephia police’s deputy commissioner of investigations, Frank Vanore. He also was seen talking to people, “asking for a phone … whatever he could do to leave the area”, Vanore said.
Investigators believe he called Diggs, who they said then picked him up in a car. Police stopped the vehicle in the city on Wednesday night, Vanore said, but Pryor was not in the car. Diggs and another person who was in the vehicle were questioned by police, but no charges have been filed against the other person.
After Pryor was arrested by the US Marshals Service on Sunday, he was handed over to local homicide detectives, said Sgt Eric Gripp of the Philadelphia police department.
“A special thanks goes out to the media and public for sharing their tips and information,” Gripp said in a statement. Gripp did not elaborate on the nature of the tips which led to Pryor.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
