Charlie Garner

Opinion Editor

avg6206@psu.edu

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – Authorities say that a man is now facing charges for picking up a teenager awaiting trial in a homicide case. 

18 year old, Michael Diggs, is being accused of hindering apprehension, escape, criminal conspiracy, and use of a communication facility. Authorities say that Diggs was driving the vehicle that the fugitive, 17 year old Shane Pryor, was seen getting into after he escaped from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he had been taken for a hand injury. 

Security footage shows Pryor going in and out of some buildings in the area after his escape and was seen talking to people asking to use their phones, where investigators believe that he had called Diggs to pick him up. Police had stopped the vehicle in the city later that night, but Pryor was not found in the car. They had also searched the buildings and used dogs to help search large parking garages, along with checking the homes of his relatives who lived in the area. 

Pryor was originally charged for homicide in October 2020, when he was only 14 years old, and has been in a juvenile facility ever since. His charges include murder, conspiracy, and crimes using firearms. His description is as follows: 5 feet 7 inches tall, 180 pounds, and wearing a blue sweatsuit with sandals and socks. 

Pryor’s mother urges her son to turn herself in and she has said that he fled because he turns 18 soon and would be sent to an adult prison. Robert Clark, a deputy who works with the U.S. Marshals Service said during a news conference “If Shane Pryor wishes to contest his charges, he should be fighting his case from the courtroom and surrender to the nearest police officer immediately.”