Oklahoma prisoner dialed 911 to report escape

Oklahoma prisoner dialed 911 to report escape

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A prisoner being driven across western Oklahoma dialed 911 this week to tell police that two other inmates had stolen an unattended transport van in an attempted escape.

Private transportation guards stopped at Weatherford Regional Hospital on Tuesday with some prisoners who appeared to be sick. The guards left eight inmates in the van — with the engine still running. Two of them kicked out a partition, moved to the front of the van and drove it for about a mile before fleeing on foot.

Joshua Silverman, one of the six inmates who was taken along for the ride, found a phone in the van and called 911.

Weatherford’s assistant police chief says Silverman helped authorities narrow their search for the two escapees who were recovered nearby later that day.