Yenchun Chen, a fugitive who received the nickname “Spider Man” after his almost cinematic escape through a New York hospital window, was captured this morning, more than a month after the escape.
The sturdy 44-year-old inmate, who stands 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 250 pounds, escaped in broad daylight on August 9. tie some sheets to get through the 5th floor window on Hospital Mount Sinai Beth Israel at 281 First Ave. y E. 16th St. and then took a taxi.
Chen was arrested around 6:15 a.m. today by agents from the NYC Bureau of Correctional Intelligence and also the US Marshals on the 2nd floor of a building on 45th Avenue located about half a mile from his house of queens according to a police source New York Post. Previously it was said that he ran away to New Jersey, but that was never confirmed.
Today he was taken to the more secure Bellevue Hospital for medical examination and treatment, according to the NYPD and the Department of Corrections (DOC). He is currently facing charges of escape, in addition to criminal possession of a controlled substance an alleged crime that was first arrested on July 31.
Since August 4, he has been hospitalized due to heart problems. Five days later he escaped when the correctional officer allowed him to take a shower. Chen rappelled down the side of the building with the sheets tied in mid-afternoon and still wearing the bracelet that identified him as a patient. The guards responsible for guarding him during his escape were suspended for 30 days without pay.
This is at least the third escape of an inmate in weeks in NYC. At the end of July, a woman escaped security at a federal police station in Queens by escaping through a window. A month ago, Anthony Ayala, a 16-year-old teenager who was detained at the NYPD precinct in Staten Island, apparently disappeared by escaping through a bathroom window.
In August 2022, Eduardo Lacen (23), a young suspect in an attempted murder, escaped from an NYPD station in the Bronx after pushing a detective, NYPD sources said.
All charges are mere accusations and those charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
