[Video corrected below.] The row of television cameras didn’t scare off the robbery suspect as he walked out of court yesterday morning. 22-year old Naquan Thompson slid his wrist out of the handcuffs, bolted away from the chain gang and went sprinting down the street.
He narrowly missed running into this young woman as he rounded the corner.
WABC-NY’s Ardina Seward captured the brazen escape on camera.
Eyewitnesses alerted police, who went chasing after the suspect.
Police sources tell Eyewitness News he was captured nine minutes later, on a train.
Sources say Thompson suffered a broken ankle as he jumped from the Staten Island Ferry terminal onto the train tracks.
Now, Thompson has a new charge to add to his rap sheet, escape.
“He was thin, he was able to get out of the handcuffs,” said NYC Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly.
Kelly said officers don’t want to tighten the handcuffs too much, for fear of injuring a suspect.
He added that the department will review their procedures in light of the escape.
Thompson was initially arrested for armed robbery, for holding up the owners of a Dongan Hills deli.
Their daughter couldn’t believe he was back on the street, if only for a brief time.
Kelly pointed out that last year the department made 442,000 arrests, and he said when you’re dealing with those kind of numbers, things are bound to occasionally go wrong.
Click below to watch the escape:
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{WABC-TV/DT/Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
