EAST HARLEM — Three prisoners have escaped from police custody at three different Harlem precincts this summer.
The latest incident happened Sunday when Austin Stevenson, who was handcuffed, was being led into the 23rd Precinct. Stevenson shoved a police officer and ran away, according to the NYPD.
Stevenson, 25, had been arrested for trespassing at 160 East 103rd St. He is still at large, police said.
Had he been arrested for a violent crime, Stevenson's legs would have also been shackled. The NYPD announced the new policy for suspects of violent crime after Tareek Arnold escaped from the 32nd Precinct June 23.
Like Stevenson, Arnold shoved an officer to the ground and ran away. Surveillance video obtained by the Daily News shows him running with his hands cuffed behind his back.
Arnold, 23, was arrested about a month later.
A third man, Arthur Collins, 57, managed to escape from police custody while after being locked in a holding cell at the 25th precinct, according to the NYPD.
Collins had been arrested for trespassing on July 24. He was carrying crack, cocaine, heroine, marijuana and a gun silencer when officers arrested him, police said.
Collins was led into a holding cell at the 25th Precinct. When officers went in to check on him, he was gone, police said.
He turned himself in three days later.
The NYPD conducts an official review of the circumstances of any escape from custody, a spokesman said.
