Cleveland Police Search for Escaped Inmate

CLEVELAND --

Police are searching for a prisoner who escaped while being transported on a prisoner shuttle bus en route to the Justice Center.

DeCharles Stephens, 23, is charged with aggravated robbery and was on his way to a court hearing Thursday when he escaped from the bus on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive near Kinsman Road in Cleveland.

About 22 or 23 other prisoners were on the bus at the time, along with two corrections officers.

Police said Stephens used an emergency window at the back of the bus to escape. It is unclear whether the bus was moving or stopped at the time.

Stephens is 6 feet tall and weighs 190 pounds. He was wearing a black and white plaid shirt with a black T-shirt underneath. He may have a hot pink handcuff on his left wrist.

Stephens was first arrested on May 30. Police said he approached a man and woman at a gas station near East 13th and Carnegie Avenue, pointing a gun at them and demanding money.

Police said the male victim tried to get the gun from Stephens and the female victim ran away. Stephens was chased down by an off-duty officer who had witnessed the incident.

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