By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
TRIBECA - A suspect waltzed out of the First Precinct stationhouse unnoticed Friday afternoon - the second time in recent years that a prisoner has given officers there the slip, the New York Post reported.
The escape unfolded as scores of cops gathered at the building on Ericsson Place, near Varick Street, for the funeral of a fellow officer who killed himself earlier in the week.
Grand larceny suspect Fred Lando, 44, was being quizzed by detectives when he got up and walked right out of the stationhouse at about 1:30 p.m., the report said.
Officers were lining up outside the building at the time to attend the funeral for Officer Philip Chlando, 29, but no one noticed the alleged crook on the loose.
It's not clear if he was cuffed.
They later caught him in The Bronx, The Post said.
Cops with canine units scoured the neighborhood but apparently came up empty.
Officials at a nearby school said cops told them about the snafu. Police also asked for surveillance footage at the Tortola Salon nearby.
"We asked if we should be worried," said Kristen Pallonetti, director of the Tribeca Community School. "They said this has happened before."
It's the second time in 1-1/2 years that a prisoner has escaped from the First Precinct.
Suspected petty thief Orlando Reyes, 21, bolted from the stationhouse as cops put him on a bus to central booking on Nov. 28, 2009.
He was picked up shortly afterwards, and hit with escape charges.
