New Jersey police fatally shot an escaped prisoner who broke loose from police custody yesterday afternoon. The suspect, who has not been identified yet, was arrested earlier yesterday in Garfield for domestic abuse. Diana Copin told ABC that her family watched as police chased the prisoner: "They saw the cops chasing someone in the backyard," she said. more ›

If you were an escaped prisoner desperately trying to prove your innocence, which local news source would you approach to plead your case? If your first thought was a certain local rag known for its typically classy front pages, then you might want to rethink that plan...since you very well may find yourself back in custody soonafter. more ›

Escaped prisoner José Rodriguez's girlfriend, Janell, sat in support of him during a hearing in Bronx court yesterday, and told the Daily News that Rodriguez was only doing what any sane person in custody for a non-fatal shooting would have done. "I don't blame him for trying to escape; I would have done the same thing," she said. What a great way to pick up the ladies! Just tell them you're on the lam for a shooting you (possibly) didn't do. Speed Dating? more ›

The Wednesday manhunt for Jose Rodriguez (pictured), the shackled prisoner who managed to escape from the NYPD by stealing a police car, had NJ communities on the alert. Some schools were locked down and one resident got ready by making sure his gun was loaded...and then he accidentally shot himself. Cliffview Pilot reports, "Cliffside Park Police Chief Donald Keane [said] that the 44-year-old West End Avenue resident 'heard about the fugitive' and immediately began loading his legally Sig Sauer P-228 9mm -- a model long preferred by some federal agents -- when it discharged. The unidentified resident sustained a 'flesh wound' to his right hand." Rodriguez was later captured in Connecticut. more ›

The alleged thief who impersonated another man at his arraignment, then walked out of the courtroom a free man, was found last night in midtown Manhattan. What’s more, officials say 35-year-old Freddie Thomson—who should have faced charges for armed robbery, but instead pleaded guilty to marijuana possession—was not solely at fault. According to Police Commissioner Ray Kelly an officer failed to "adequately check the identification of the prisoner." He added that "There was a mistake made here. There's no question about it." more ›

Ronald Tackman, the prisoner who escaped from a Criminal Court holding cell yesterday and managed to blend in with the court crowds, thanks to his business suit, is still at large. He did manage to head to his mother's Upper East Side home; she told NY1, "He came home and he was all dressed up and I figured that he was discharged from prison. So I didn't say anything and he asked me to change his clothes and that was it." His new attire: Jeans and a black jacket. more ›

Columbia-NY Presbyterian Hospital, at Broadway & 168th Street, was under lockdown yesterday when a suspect, arrested on stolen property and drug charges and being monitored at the hospital, . The Port Authority police had brought Esteban Guitterez to the hospital on Saturday night and the Columbia Spectator reports that he "was in a bathroom in the Emergency Room area at 11:50 a.m. Sunday, when he reportedly decided to climb into the ceiling of the facility. He subsequently trapped himself inside a wall of the structure." After searching for over an hour, Guitterez, according to the PA police, "was eventually determined to be on the other side of a sheetrock wall, so they knocked down the wall and there he was.” The PA police were joined by the NYPD in the manhunt—one man whose pregnant wife as evacuated said, "[My wife] was very scared, obviously." The Daily News adds that the PA cops who were guarding him "are not expected to be disciplined" more ›