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Rikers Island inmate makes second escape attempt in one week

 

By Tina Moore and Yaron Steinbuch

 

New York Post

June 21, 2020

 

The accused cop basher who made a dramatic escape attempt from Rikers Island last week pulled the same stunt Sunday morning — this time eking out just 30 minutes of freedom before he was corralled, corrections sources told The Post.

A separate source with knowledge of the situation said Arthur L. Brown, 37, of Brooklyn, was found on the roof of a facility on Rikers.

“This detainee was quickly apprehended and returned to custody. The incident is under investigation and there will be immediate staff suspensions if warranted,” correction spokesman Peter Thorne said.

Brown scaled a fence at the North Infirmary Command on Rikers Island during recreation about 9 a.m., officials said.

On Thursday, Brown made his bold move at 12:17 p.m. while he and other jailbirds got fresh air atop the George R. Vierno Center, a men’s jail near the island’s eastern tip, sources said last week.

A surveillance camera recorded Brown, who’s been jailed since allegedly attacking two cops more than a year ago, as he scaled a fence in a corner of the yard last week, the sources said.

It was unclear how he made it down from the roof, which is two stories above ground, and the escape wasn’t reported until 12:41 p.m., sources said.

A “red alert” was issued six minutes later and a search of the island was ordered at 12:57 p.m., sources said.

Brown was caught by two correction officers who chased him down with their K-9 partners around 1:30 p.m., the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association said.

The Department of Correction was investigating the incident when Brown made a run for it again Sunday.

 

Brown has been jailed since May 7, 2019, when he was allegedly caught trespassing at the Staten Island Ferry terminal in Lower Manhattan, then allegedly assaulting two NYPD cops.

Two days later, court papers say, he allegedly hurled human waste at a correction officer in an incident that sources said took place in Central Booking at the Manhattan criminal courthouse.

He was charged again two days later for allegedly punching and trying to choke a court officer at Central Booking, sources said.