Prisoner That Rappelled Down Beth Israel Hospital Using Bedsheets Caught, Rearrested
After hitching a taxi to New Jersey during his August 9 escape, Yenchun Chen managed to evade New York authorities. He was re-arrested on Tuesday, September 12, after reportedly being found on a friend’s couch in Queens. He apparently asked officers if could go to a hospital, in no small irony.
| 14 Sep 2023 | 06:08
A mugshot of Yenchun Chen. (
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Yenchun Chen, a prisoner that stunned New York City on August 9 by managing to rappel down the side of the Mt. Sinai Beth Israel hospital using a rope made of twisted bedsheets, is back in custody. The NYPD told Straus News that Chen had been rearrested on September 12 and charged with escaping from jail.
Chen, in custody on the fifth floor of the East Side hospital, had convinced guards to let him take a shower. He promptly made his high-wire escape out of the bathroom window.
He managed to evade capture for over a month, and was last seen fleeing southbound in a cab down 2nd Ave. False reports of his arrest in New Jersey at the time were debunked by the police.
If he was indeed in New Jersey for any amount of time, it appears that he couldn’t avoid returning to New York. Press reports claim that police had apprehended him at a friend’s residence in Queens, where he was sleeping on the couch–and in significant pain.
He allegedly ask officers to take him to the hospital, in no small amount of cosmic irony.
Chen had initially been taken into custody for drug possession on July 31. He transferred to Mt. Sinai on August 4 after complaining of chest discomfort during a court appearance.