A 16-year-old boy wanted for robbery and burglary is on the run — in handcuffs — after escaping custody while being extradited back to Philadelphia from Florida, police tell NBC10.
Hasheem Singletary jumped from a slow-moving white Kia as it drove near the intersection of 55th Street and Cedar Avenue in West Philadelphia at 6:42 p.m. Wednesday, Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said.
Singletary was being taken to police by prisoner transport service PTS when he jumped from the car's back seat and ran down an alley, Walker said.
"They had him in the back of a rental car," Walker said. "As they were driving on 55th at Cedar, the male was able to get out of the car, handcuffed with a band around his waist."
His hands are handcuffed in front of his body and he's wearing a black hoodie, black pants and dark blue shoes.
The teen is wanted for two gunpoint robberies and burglary he allegedly committed in University City in February, according to police. He fled Philadelphia by airplane to Tennessee and was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida three weeks ago for driving a stolen car, Walker said.
Janet Brown, the teen's mother, wasn't aware her son was on the run or even back in Philadelphia. She told NBC10 the last she heard he was still under arrest in Florida.
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"You have to turn yourself in because it's not going to last. There's nowhere to run out here. Please Hasheem, listen to me," she pleaded Wednesday night.
Police officers fanned out around the West Philadelphia neighborhood looking for Singletary. The department's Tactical Air Helicopter Unit was also looking for him from the sky.
Anyone who may spot Singletary is asked to not approach him and call Philadelphia Police's Southwest Detective Division at 215.686.3183 or 911.
