NYPD Officer Suspended After Prisoner Escapes From Hospital
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For the fourth time in three months, a prisoner escaped police custody this past weekend.
As CBS2's Matt Kozar reported, a woman who pretended to be pregnant and gave police a fake name remained on the loose Monday – prompting serious questions about police security and extreme worry for the woman whose identity the suspect was allegedly using.
Tiffany Neumann, 23, fled from NewYork-Presbyterian/Lower Manhattan Hospital around 10 p.m., authorities said.
Police said she gave them a fake name when she was arrested on the Upper West Side on Saturday on petty larceny and theft charges, CBS2's Ilana Gold reported.
Neumann allegedly ordered food at the Hi Life Bar & Grill on Amsterdam Avenue at West 83rd Street, police said. But after eating, she apparently said she was sick and left without paying, according to police.
Police claimed Neumann then walked 50 feet to the Purdy Girl boutique where she stole clothes off the rack and stuffed them under her shirt.
The owner of the clothing store from which Neumann was accused of shoplifting said the suspect pretended to be pregnant while she was there.
"She had stuffed clothes up her shirt, and she's like, 'No, I'm just pregnant!' Like, 'I'm pregnant! I'm six months pregnant!" said Saskia Venet, a clerk at the store who witnessed the incident.
Venet said she and her coworker confronted Neumann and called police from the nearby 20th Precinct.
"She was completely resisting arrest. You know, she was doing that thing where she had, like, her feet on the hood of the car," Venet said. "It was just absolutely ridiculous."
Police had Neumann in custody, but then they didn't.
As she was getting ready for her arraignment Sunday, she raised concerns about being pregnant and claimed she had bruising, sources told CBS2.
That was when one of the arresting officers took her to the hospital, where, police said, nurses put Neumann in an exam room in a gown and handcuffs.
After a doctor left the exam room, Neumann somehow slipped off the handcuffs, took off her gown, put on nurses scrubs and walked out of the hospital without anyone noticing, investigators said. The police officer who was supposed to be guarding Neumann had walked away to use the restroom, police Commissioner Bill Bratton said.
"I think it's kind of crazy," one woman in Lower Manhattan told 1010 WINS' Derricke Dennis.
"What happened to hospital security?" another man asked.
Police said they've learned Neumann is not pregnant, that she made up the story to avoid facing a judge.
"There's no excuse for it. She's not a mastermind criminal. It's purely due to inattentiveness and carelessness," said NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill. "So the police officer was suspended last night."
Following an alleged sighting of Neumann in Central Park Monday morning, police rushed to the area – but found nothing. Residents at an apartment building in Riverdale, the Bronx said detectives were also there searching, but it was a dead end.
Police called the incident embarrassing.
"I will not tolerate, as police commissioner, these continued lapses in what should be basic policing for the care and custody of a prisoner," Bratton said. "So the penalties being imposed, if we find the officer in fact was derelict in their duties, are going to be very significant."
Police said Neumann had given police an alias and a wrong address when they initially arrested her. They said it is not uncommon for a perp without ID to lie about his or her identity.
Christine Figueredo, 25, called CBS2 in a panic when she saw her name on the news Sunday night as the escaped prisoner.
"Essentially yeah, I mean, she stole my identity," Figueredo said.
Police had said Neumann had told them her name was Christine Figueredo -- and even had Figueredo's ID, CBS2's Jessica Schneider reported. Figueredo lost her ID last year, but had no idea how it got into the alleged criminal's hands.
"She has all of my information. So I mean, even worse, yeah, I'm worried that she will come here," Figueredo said. "You know I don't know who she knows or what she's about. That's probably my worst fear. I was in complete shock. My family was upset at me over something that I didn't do."
Neumann is the fourth prisoner to escape from NYPD custody this summer.
"That's looking real bad on the city," said Sioban Huggins, of Flatbush, Brooklyn.
Three weeks ago, police searched through East Harlem for Austin Stephenson.
Police said they had just arrested him on a trespassing charge and as they started walking him into the 23rd precinct, he somehow got loose and ran away.
In July, police said Arthur Collins escaped from a different East Harlem precinct.
According to authorities, he got out of his holding cell when he was being booked on a burglary charge and walked right out of the building.
A month earlier, police said Tareek Arnold escaped from detectives at the 32nd precinct in Harlem.
Surveillance video shows him in handcuffs running down the street and detectives chasing after him.
Police tracked down all three men.
Neumann is 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds, police said. She has six prior arrests.
Police believe Neumann had plans to travel to Los Angeles sometime this week, but they are hoping to find her before she leaves New York City.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.