By Nicole Bode and Jeff Mays
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Police are looking for a woman who escaped police custody from inside Harlem Hospital.
Prisoner Tashia Evans, 28, was waiting to be cleared to leave the hospital at Lenox Avenue and 135th Street around 1:30 p.m. Monday when she escaped, police said.
Police said that an officer was suspended as a result of the incident. The Daily News reported the officer was Harold Nunez, from the 26th precinct in Manhatanville.
An official for the Health and Hospitals Corporation said the agency's hospitals are only charged with medical care for those in custody.
"HHC is responsible for the patient’s medical care while law enforcement ensures custody," the official said.
Evans had been arrested at 11:40 a.m. Monday inside a Chase Bank on Broadway and 112th Street near Columbia University, where she was allegedly caught trying to pass a forged check. A NYPD spokesman did not immediately know how much the check was made out for.
When police arrived to arrest her, Evans put up a fight and assaulted the arresting officers, police said.
She was initially taken to the NYPD station house, but had to be transported to Harlem Hospital after she started complaining of chest pains, police said.
Evans is described as 5-foot 2-inches and approximately 160 pounds. She was last seen wearing a black parka jacket and gray pants.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or text TIP577 to 274637.
