Inmate who escaped from hospital recaptured after being found asleep on friend's couch

A 44-year-old inmate who escaped from a New York City-area hospital last month was tracked through New Jersey, Virginia and then back to Queens, where he was recaptured Tuesday morning after authorities found him sleeping on a friend’s couch, authorities said.

The man – Yenchun Chen – injured himself first rappelling and then falling out the fifth-floor window of Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital on Aug. 9. He fled in a car that was tracked to New Jersey, authorities said.

Chen had been arrested on drug possession charges, The Associated Press reported.

With U.S. Marshals and members of the Fugitive Task Force on his trail, Chen was tracked to Virginia, where he has family and friends, and then back to Queens, where he was recently couch-surfing at different friends’ houses, according to authorities.

He was arrested on Tuesday morning at 6:15 a.m. ET in a second-floor apartment on 45th Ave, where he was asleep on a friend’s couch, authorities said.

Chen was taken to the hospital following his arrest for injuries to his ribs and legs sustained when he made his August escape. He is believed to have fallen a significant distance from the hospital window, and while still able to walk, he was “banged up,” authorities said.

He is being treated for those injuries at Bellevue Hospital, authorities added, where detectives are waiting to speak to him.