A prisoner receiving medical treatment escaped from a New York City hospital by tying sheets together, rappelling from a fifth-floor window and hailing a taxi, police said.
The 44-year-old man escaped from Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in Manhattan shortly after 4.30pm on Wednesday and was still at large Thursday, a police spokesperson said.
The man had been in custody since a 31 July arrest for drug possession and was brought to the hospital on 4 August for treatment of a medical problem, a spokesperson for the city correction department said.
He was taken to the bathroom for a shower and managed to escape out the window using bedsheets, police said. He rappelled to a rooftop below and from there made it to the street, where he got into a taxi.
The police and correction departments were looking for him on Thursday.
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