Prisoner Escapes Police Custody In East New York, Brooklyn
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An escaped prisoner is on the run after getting away from police while in handcuffs in Brooklyn.
Gerald Brooks, 39, was being taken to the 73rd Precinct station house when he escaped police custody around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday in East New York, according to the NYPD.
His hands were cuffed behind his back when he pushed a police officer to the ground and ran off, police said.
"The perp was able to push away from the investigator and was able to run down the street," NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill said. "They pursued him, but they lost him."
He was last seen running northbound on Georgia Avenue toward New Lots Avenue, police said.
Brooks has brown eyes and long black dreadlocks. He was last seen wearing a red baseball cap, blue hooded jacket and blue jeans, police said.
Brooks has been locked up 54 times in the past, O'Neil said.
According to authorities, Brooks is currently wanted for several outstanding warrants for domestic assault and driving with an expired license, CBS2's Meg Baker reported.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton had some harsh words for the three officers involved.
"They're an embarrassment to themselves, to the unit, to this department, and they're going to create a lot more work for this department as a result of their inefficiencies this morning," Bratton told reporters, including WCBS 880's Rich Lamb. The commissioner added that the officers will face consequences for letting Brooks get away.
"They will be dealt with very appropriately for that incompetence," Bratton said.
O'Neill said he knows the sergeant involved in the incident.
"He's been in the warrant squad for a long time. He's put hundreds of very dangerous people in jail," he said. "What happened to him this morning and the two other investigators involved, I'm sure all three of them are absolutely embarrassed."
Neighbors, meanwhile, are very much on edge.
"They were searching the backyard and everything and asking us could they go back there," one woman told CBS2's Meg Baker.
"Cops on every block looking and searching very diligently, so hopefully they find him," Sarafina Murray said.
"We're hoping that y'all catch the person," said Rachel Tanner. "We don't want no problems in the neighborhood. I've been living here for years. So far, me and my family been safe."
This is the fifth time since June a prisoner has escaped NYPD custody, and Bratton said he's getting tired of it.
"We're not going to tolerate it," Bratton said. "I'm very concerned when somebody with a pair of handcuffs handcuffed behind him can flee from three of my officers and they cannot catch him. Sorry, there's something wrong there when that's happening -- repeatedly, over and over again."
On Aug. 30, Tiffany Neumann, 23, fled from a lower Manhattan hospital after slipping out of her handcuffs. Police called the incident embarrassing and said the officer who was supposed to be guarding Neumann had been suspended.
On Aug, 16, Austin Stevenson, 25, was taken into custody in East Harlem on suspicion of criminal trespass. As he was led to the 23rd Precinct station house, police said Stevenson pushed his escorting officer and took off.
Arthur Collins escaped from the 25th Precinct, also in East Harlem, in July after he got out of his holding cell when he was being booked on a burglary charge.
A month earlier, Tareek Arnold escaped from detectives in the 32nd Precinct in Harlem. Surveillance video showed him running down the street in handcuffs while detectives chased after him.
All of those suspects were eventually caught.
Anyone with information about Brooks' whereabouts is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, visit the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.
