PhillyTablet Inquirer Daily News
Mobile
Home Delivery
philly.com
email
font size
comments
2
options
 
Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Have you seen this shackled fugitive?

This one will leave you reaching for the Advil.

Taariq Ali is a 43-year-old inmate who was sentenced to life in prison in Delaware back in 1995 for attempted murder. He was sent out to a prison in California to serve a portion of his sentence as part of a cost-saving, inmate sharing program called the Interstate Corrections Compact.

On Friday, Taariq was on his way back to Delaware to serve out the rest of his sentence. He got off a flight at Philly International just before midnight with an escort guard from Prisoner Transport Services of America (PTSA). Taariq's wrists were handcuffed to his waist. This, of course, is where it got tricky.

John Painter, a spokesman for the Delaware State Department of Corrections, said Ali -- shackles an' all -- managed to run away from his escort guard. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, he just kept runnin' and runnin' and runnin'. PTSA inexplicably didn't notify Delaware corrections officials about the escape until Sunday. Taariq remains on the loose, and the US Marshals and Philadelphia Police Department have now joined the chase.

Stay tuned, dear readers, for more.
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 11:54 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:00 PM, 09/24/2008
    Hopefully, this animal will be caught B-4 someone gets hurt, let alone killed!!! The prisoner escort guard should loose his J O B for not reporting this very "SUSPICIOUS" incident A.S.A.P.!!!
    — housework
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:01 AM, 09/27/2008
    Without a doubt suspended until further notice and investigated to see if he / she wasn't paid off to allow this inmate to flee while being 'shackled an' all!! Before reporting the blunder!!
    — s3g


2 comments
About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

---

Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

---

Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

--

Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

Follow on Twitter

Share your tips

To send news tips, breaking news pictures or other thoughts to the Philly Confidential team, email phillyconfidential@phillynews.com.
Advertise Here