Inmate escapes hospital with makeshift rope, taxi getaway

Police are on the hunt for a Riker's Island inmate who escaped through a hospital window by rappelling down five floors with tied-up towels before fleeing in a yellow taxi.

Yenchun Chen, who stands 6-feet, 3-inches and weighs 250 pounds, slipped Mount Sinai Beth Israel staff and Department of Correction officers by squeezing out a bathroom window while left unsupervised to shower around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the New York Police Department said in a press release. 

After shimmying down to a rooftop, Chen climbed a ladder down to the street below and hailed a yellow taxi cab, which sped him southbound down Manhattan's Second Avenue, per the NYPD. 

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Yenchun Chen, 44, eluded Department of Correction officers and hospital staff on Wednesday after rappelling out a five-story window using a makeshift rope. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)



Yenchun Chen was arrested for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance in Queens on July 31. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)



Yenchun Chen was admitted to the hospital on Friday for a cardiac issue, police said. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)



Around 9 p.m. on Aug. 9, a police search was underway for Yenchun Chen near the Mount Sinai Beth Israel's Petrie Division near First Avenue and East 16th Street. (NYPD Crime Stoppers)

Authorities said that Chen requested several towels for his shower, then fashioned them into a rope to escape. 

"When I heard a prisoner escaped through a window, I was just kind of shocked when it happened," one nurse told ABC 7.

Surveillance images captured during the fugitive's escape show he wore a plain white T-shirt and tan pants when he was last seen, and sported a small black goatee – he still appeared to be wearing his hospital bracelet. Distinctive sleeve tattoos mark his left arm and hand, police said, and he has black hair and brown eyes. 

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Yenchun Chen is pictured in a mug shot – he was arrested on July 31 for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance in Queens, New York. (New York Post)

Chen, 44, was arrested at the 109th precinct in Queens July 31 for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance and jailed in lieu of a $50,000 bond, according to court records. He has not yet been indicted, and his next court date is scheduled for Aug. 24 in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to New York State Unified Court System data.

He is a Taiwanese native, per Department of Correction data. 

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EMTs are pictured outside a Mount Sinai Beth Israel facility, where Yenchun Chen was transported last Friday due to a cardiac concern. (John Lamparski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

He was housed at Riker's West Facility, per Department of Correction data, generally reserved for sick inmates, and had been hospitalized since last Friday due to a cardiac issue, the New York Post reported.

Around 9 p.m. Wednesday, a police search was underway near the hospital's Petrie Division, where Chen was treated, near First Avenue and East 16th Street, the New York Daily News reported. 

The Department of Correction, the Queens District Attorney's Office and Chen's public defender could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Christina Coulter is a U.S. and World reporter for Fox News Digital. Email story tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..