Police: Nurse assistant helped inmate escape with hidden key

MCKEESPORT — Police say a nursing assistant helped a prisoner who’s a cousin of her stepchildren escape from a suburban Pittsburgh hospital by hiding a handcuff key in a tissue box.

Michele Sims was arraigned Monday on charges including hindering apprehension.

The 47-year-old Port Vue woman is jailed in lieu of $5,000 bail pending a Nov. 9 hearing. Online court records do not list a lawyer to comment on the charges.

Inmate Alexander Erb eluded authorities for more than 16 hours after escaping from UPMC McKeesport hospital on Oct. 12.

Police say the 26-year-old, hospitalized after his arrest in a domestic dispute, was shackled to a bed and under guard. Police say he used a nurse as an obstacle as he escaped.

Authorities say they found him hiding under a bed with a 16-year-old girl at a home about two miles away.

This undated photo supplied by the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office shows 26-year-old Glassport, Pa., resident Alexander Erb. Arrested after a domestic dispute and taken for treatment to UPMC McKeesport hospital 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pa., Erb obtained a key to his handcuffs and used a nurse as an obstacle as he hopped on a gurney and escaped around 1 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, eluding authorities for more than 16 hours, the office’s Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015.

https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_Erb.jpgThis undated photo supplied by the Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office shows 26-year-old Glassport, Pa., resident Alexander Erb. Arrested after a domestic dispute and taken for treatment to UPMC McKeesport hospital 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Pa., Erb obtained a key to his handcuffs and used a nurse as an obstacle as he hopped on a gurney and escaped around 1 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015, eluding authorities for more than 16 hours, the office’s Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015. Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office via AP