Police still searching for prisoner who escaped from NYC hospital
Yenchun Chen, 44, was supposedly taking a shower when he made his escape.
Authorities are still searching for Yenchun Chen after he jumped out a fifth floor window and rappelled down Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in New York City to evade Department of Correction authorities, according to police.
Yenchun Chen, 44, was supposedly taking a shower when he made his escape about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. Correction officers found the bathroom window open and Chen gone.
![PHOTO: Yenchun Chen, 44, allegedly escaped from Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan, N.Y., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023.](https://i.abcnewsfe.com/a/94862614-3cf1-4746-b553-dc393eb3b714/hospital-escape-ho-mo-20230810_1691684106350_hpEmbed_16x9.jpg)
He tied towels and other linens together and scaled down the side of the hospital to the second floor, landing on an air conditioning unit, police said. From there, he used a ladder to get to street level, hailed a cab and was last seen heading south on Second Ave, police said.
Chen was arrested last month for criminal possession of a controlled substance and had been hospitalized for some kind of heart problem.
Police say Chen has a medium complexion, approximately 6-foot-3 and weighs 250 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He has tattoos on his left arm and left hand. A man taken into custody earlier this afternoon in New Jersey turned out to be someone other than the escaped prisoner, police said.
ABC News' Mark Crudele contributed to this report.