An inmate who shimmied out of handcuffs and escaped from Bellevue Hospital last month was caught riding an bus – just two miles from his daring getaway, cops and sources said.
James Mossetty, 35 – who had been on the lam since June 26 – was picked up around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday while riding an MTA bus at West 50th Street and Eighth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, according to authorities and law enforcement sources.
Mossetty, of Flushing, Queens – initially taken into custody on Jan. 6 for assault, theft of services and criminal possession of a controlled substance – now faces an additional rap for escaping custody, cops said.
Mossetty was being prepared for transport in a vehicle from the Kips Bay Hospital back to the Otis Bantum Correctional Center within the Rikers Island complex when he shimmied out of his cuffs and ran off, according to law enforcement sources and the city’s Department of Correction.
He made his way onto the nearby FDR Drive and hadn’t been seen until his capture 20 days later, according to cops.
At the time of his escape, Mossetty was in the DOC’s custody, and spent some time in treatment at Bellevue because of a medical issue, according to Annais Morales, a department spokeswoman.
The DOC, NYPD and US Marshals worked together to track him down.
Mossetty was in custody for punching a man in the face in Midtown back on July 30, 2021 — and from two raps from Aug. 9, 2023: one for refusing to pay a $36 taxi fare in Lower Manhattan, and the other for stashing a bag of meth in his sock, according to the criminal complaints.