Good Guy Prisoner Dials 911, Reports Escape

During a prison escape, a 911 call with an unlikely reporting party was received — as a prisoner in the midst of a daring escape rang the cops to alert them.

Oklahoma inmate Joshua Silverman was polite as he dialed 911 to report the escape, saying on Tuesday to an emergency services operator:

“Uh, yes, ma’am, you’re probably not going to believe this, but I’m a prisoner in a van, and I’m here with a couple of these other cats… A couple of the guys that were in the van jacked the van… at the hospital.”

Silverman was inside a van with several fellow prisoners as some inmates were transported to a hospital for treatment. When guards escorted the ill prisoners inside the hospital, they left the remaining inmates inside the van — which was running, so the men would be able to sit in the air conditioning.

Police say that inmates Lester Burns and Michael Coleman then kicked away the partition separating the incarcerated men from the van’s driver seat, and gained control of the vehicle — and its keys.

Burns and Coleman then drove for about a mile before fleeing on foot, while Silverman and five fellow inmates did not join the escape in progress.

During the call, the prisoner can be heard saying to the 911 operator:

“We’re in Oklahoma somewhere. I don’t know because we’re not on a road and I’m not from here… I just don’t want to get shot by no cops or nothing… We’re all in the van. Two of the dudes took off. The dudes that were doing whatever they were doing took off.”

Silverman’s 911 call reporting the escape aided police in later locating Burns and Coleman following the break, and both were taken back into custody later in the same day.