Escaped New York convict Yenchun Chen is found sleeping on a friend’s couch a month after using bed sheets to climb out of hospital window
- Yenchun Chen, 44, was found sleeping on a friend’s couch in Flushing, Queens
- He had been on the run since August 9 when he escaped from custody
An inmate who used bed sheets to escape from the fifth floor of a New York City hospital was finally caught sleeping on a friend’s couch Tuesday after a month on the run.
Yenchun Chen, a 44-year-old man who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 250 pounds, made a daring escape from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital on August 9 by tying the sheets together and rappelling from a fifth-floor window .
He was said to take a shower after convincing prison guards to take him for treatment for chest pain.
After leaving the hospital, he hitched a ride in a yellow cab to New Jersey and then disappeared.
Yenchun Chen, 44, who used a rope made of bed sheets to escape from the fifth floor of a New York City hospital, was finally rearrested after a month on the run
The 6-foot-4, 250-pound man made a daring escape from Mount Sinal Beth Israel Hospital by tying the sheets together and rappelling out of a fifth-floor window
He was found sleeping on a friend’s couch in a second-floor apartment on 45th Avenue in Flushing, Queens
He could barely speak when he was found asleep Tuesday morning on a friend’s couch in a second-floor apartment on 45th Avenue in Flushing, Queens, just a half-mile from his own Long Island City address.
It’s unclear what brought police to him, but he was so badly injured when they encountered him that he begged to be taken back to the hospital.
He is said to have suffered rib bruises during the fall on August 9.
Chen was arrested on July 31 for criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was awaiting trial, which was scheduled to take place later this month, a report said.
The man was tracked to New Jersey the next day after his escape. He also went to Virginia, where he has family and friends, and then back to Queens, where he recently spent time couch surfing with several friends, authorities told ABC News.
Chen was in Department of Corrections custody at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, located at 281 First Avenue, when he broke free on August 9 around 4:30 p.m.
Chen escaped from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, located at 281 First Avenue, on August 9 around 4:30 p.m.
The hulking prisoner had been in hospital since Friday after suffering from heart problems.
Chen was allegedly taking a shower when he made off by tying the sheets together and rappelling out of a fifth-floor window.
When corrections officers went to check on him, they found the bathroom window open and Chen was gone.
One of the nurses told WABC 7 she was ‘shocked’ when she heard an inmate escaped through a window.”