A prisoner escaped a Manhattan hospital through a fifth-floor window and got away in a taxi Wednesday, according to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Yenchun Chen, 44, escaped Mount Sinai Beth Israel while in Dept. of Corrections custody, according to an NYPD tweet. Chen was last seen wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of beige trousers, a photograph of him accompanying the tweet showed. (RELATED: Conman Who Escaped Federal Prison Found Living It Up In $1.5 Million Florida Mansion)
WANTED ESCAPED PRISONER: On 8/9/23 @ 4:30 PM @NYPD13PCT Yenchun Chen was in Dept of Corrections custody inside Mount Sinai Beth Israel located @ 281 1 Ave where he escaped the hospital via a 5th fl window to the street entering a yellow taxi. Any info call us at 800-577-TIPS pic.twitter.com/qczV7jYco7
— NYPD Crime Stoppers (@NYPDTips) August 10, 2023
Chen was reportedly in custody for drug possession and undergoing treatment at the hospital for a cardiac issue. Chen allegedly rappelled down from a bathroom window in the hospital using several towels he had requested for a shower, ABC 7 reported. Standing at 6’3 and weighing about 250 pounds, Chen reportedly landed on a second-floor air conditioning unit, from where he allegedly used a ladder to finish his descent. He then allegedly hopped into a taxi and left.
The police are looking for Chen and asking for tips from the public, per the NYPD tweet.
In a similar incident, homicide and arson suspect Michael Burham escaped from the window of a Pennsylvania jail using bedsheets on July 6 and was captured in the woods nine days later.