A prisoner escaped from district court Tuesday afternoon, setting off an active search along the Easton-Williams Township border and the Interstate 78 corridor. The search began at about 3:15 p.m., with state and local police searching the area.
Easton police were assisting Pennsylvania State Police in the hunt, according to lehighvalleylive.com, which reported the escape Tuesday. Troopers brought in K-9 units and aerial assets to cover ground quickly along the border zone and the highway corridor, said Trooper Nathan Branosky, a spokesman for State Police Troop M in Bethlehem.
Search Still Unfolding Tuesday Evening
As of Tuesday evening, the outcome of the search had not been determined, and the report was labeled a breaking news post that would be updated as more information became available. The article, published at 4:48 p.m. and bylined to Kurt Bresswein, did not identify the prisoner or specify which district court the person had fled from.
The search area included the Easton-Williams Township border and the I-78 corridor.
Other Lehigh Valley Escapes Have Ended in Different Ways
In another incident, a convict was captured after an escape, according to WFMZ.
Other local cases have involved work-release inmates rather than escapes from custody. In 2021, a prisoner held at the work-release facility at Northampton County Prison in Easton, identified as Maximo Raymer Vasquez-Frias, failed to return as scheduled, lehighvalleylive.com reported at the time. A year later, work-release inmate Tan Van Tran also did not return as scheduled to the Easton facility and was later returned to Northampton County Prison custody, according to a separate lehighvalleylive.com report.
Tuesday's case remains open, and the circumstances of the escape and any resulting charges have not been detailed publicly. Hoodline will share additional details on the search along the Easton-Williams Township border as they become available.
