Baltimore Police Searching For ‘The Wire’ Actor After He Escapes Custody During Hospital Check-Up

Authorities are searching for a former actor who appeared on “The Wire” after the man allegedly escaped from police custody after he was taken to a local hospital.

Christopher Clanton Sr., 33, was arrested in the northeastern part of the city on Thursday for the alleged violation of a protective order, but before he could be booked, he was transported to the Good Samaritan Hospital to be treated for a pre-existing medical condition, the Baltimore Police department said Friday. He then allegedly left the premises on Friday.

Clanton appeared in nine episodes of “The Wire,” the popular HBO series about drug-related crime in Baltimore, over a number of years as the character Savino Bratton, according to his IMDB profile.

Court records show that an unnamed party first sought out the order against Clanton in July, and a judge obliged in September, according to The Baltimore Sun. The actor, who last appeared in a project in 2016, is also the subject of three other criminal cases that are pending, the paper reports.

Taking to Facebook in the early hours on Saturday, a man identifying himself as Clanton published a post sharing his own version of the story and claiming that he left the hospital because he witnessed a police officer taking cocaine and, when he confronted the officer about it, was threatened.

“I WILL NOT BECOME JUST ANOTHER NUMBER ON POLICE DART BOARDS....” his post reads. “DO YOU REALLY THINK I WILL RUN BECAUSE OF A VIOLATION TO A PROTECTIVE ORDER??????”

Clanton ended the post by stating that he’d be turning himself in, but then said in the comments section that he wouldn’t be doing that.

Speaking to The Baltimore Sun, Clanton explained that he was in the midst of a custody battle with his son’s mother when he was arrested. The child’s mother had been recently arrested, and Clanton said that he reached out to police in the hopes of getting help finding his son, but he was instead arrested after he visited the street where his child’s mother lives, just one day after requesting an emergency custody hearing.

A spokesperson for Baltimore police, Donny Moses, told The Sun on Saturday that he was not aware of any Facebook posts written by Clanton or any claims made about an officer. He said that Clanton has not surrendered to police.

In their Facebook post, in which Clanton is referred to as an “escaped prisoner,” Baltimore police asked anyone who may have information on Clanton’s whereabouts to reach out to them. He is described as being 6’ feet tall and weighing around 165 pounds, and police say that he has frequently been seen around the Harford Road corridor.