The NYPD conducted a citywide manhunt yesterday after a grand larceny suspect escaped custody and walked out of the First Precinct stationhouse in Tribeca in broad daylight, passing by approximately 100 cops gathering for the funeral of Philip Chlanda, who committed suicide earlier this week. Fred Lando, 44, was being questioned in connection to an unspecified theft, the Post reports, and somehow managed to break into a ceiling crawl space in an interrogation room without being seen.
Lando then dropped down into a stationhouse hallway and strolled casually out the door, past a crowd of cops preparing for the funeral. "It's an embarrassment because the detectives squad commander was 20 feet away and there were over a hundred cops waiting for the funeral on the first floor," a police source tells the tabloid. By the time detectives realized Lando had walked, he was long gone. Police dogs searched the area and a local school was notified—a school administrator tells DNAinfo, "We asked if we should be worried. They said this has happened before." Seen one escaped fugitive, seen 'em all!
But maybe cops weren't worried because they realized they weren't exactly dealing with a criminal mastermind here. After escaping custody, where did Lando hunker down to lay low? HIS APARTMENT IN THE BRONX. Police found him in his home at 4:15 p.m., the Post reports, and he was taken back downtown, right where he started. At press time, it was unclear what he's being charged with, but the incident calls to mind the petty larceny suspect who escaped from the very same stationhouse in 2009, only to be captured brought back in tears.
