Escapee busted at Penn Station
POLICE ARRESTED an escaped prisoner in Penn Station on Saturday after he eluded authorities for 10 days, officials said.
Cops nabbed Daniel Ortiz, 31, inside the transit hub about 7 a.m.
He told authorities he had been riding the rails ever since he slipped away from a cop guarding him inside an exam room at the Lenox Hill Greenwich Village health facility Dec. 29.
The ex-con (photo), who is on parole for burglary, had been arrested earlier in the day for shoplifting at Macy’s in Herald Square, officials said.
Cops brought him to Lenox Hill after they learned he was bleeding from wounds he suffered during a stabbing three days earlier, officials said.
After Police Officer Albert Belcher removed one of Ortiz’s leg shackles and handcuffed him to a bed, the parolee managed to break free and flee when the cop stepped out of the room to chat away on his cell phone, officials said.
Investigators suspect that Belcher did not tighten the cuffs when he chained Ortiz to the bed. Ortiz was shirtless and had a shackle dangling from one of his legs when he ran into the subway station at 14th St. and Seventh Ave., officials said.
Amtrak police patrolling Penn Station on Saturday saw Ortiz acting suspiciously and stopped him.
He immediately identified himself as the escaped prisoner. He no longer had the leg shackle, a police source said.
Cops charged him with escape. His arraignment was pending Saturday.
The NYPD suspended Belcher pending the outcome of an internal review, officials said.