Inmate Who Taunted Guards After Escaping Barge Jail Thru Window Recaptured

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has successfully recaptured an inmate after 12 hours of being on the lam from an 800-bed jail barge in the Bronx. The prisoner had reportedly ridiculed guards for not inspecting the windows in his cell, NYPD spokeswoman Seargent Jessica McRorie said on Saturday.

The 5-foot-8, 220-pound escapee, David Mordukhaev, 30, allegedly squeezed himself through his cell window using a series of tied ropes to get down to the deck of floating Vernon C. Bain Correctional Facility at 4:15 a.m Saturday, the New York Post reported.

The man was last seen in his cell at around 8:24 p.m. on Friday. Federal authorities investigating Mordukhaev’s associates then called the correctional facility around 1 a.m. to check on the prisoner. At the time, jail custodians claimed Mordukhaev was detained. It remains unclear if a guard did some checks.

The suspecting feds phoned "The Boat" again at 4:30 a.m. when the prison breach was discovered. Jail officers claimed they retrieved a note from Mordukhaev which read, “Special search just searched my cell and they didn’t check the window.”

The eight-hour delay in the discovery of his escape sparked an intense statewide man-hunt across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island boroughs.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations, the NYPD, and the Federal Office of the Inspector General later tracked Mordukhaev at 79 Brighton 11th Street at the nearby Fulton Fish Market just before 5 p.m.

Witnesses say police swarmed the area with six vans full of officers, swooping down on a large apartment building where Mordukhaev had been hiding out on the third floor.

He was taken to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons instead of being brought back to the Halleck Street barge.

Police arrested Mordukhaev in August last year on charges of impersonating a police officer and robbery in April 2020 after he allegedly drove a black SUV while wearing a police shield around his neck and carrying a device that appeared to be a police radio.

The CNN noted that he allegedly apprehended a victim, collecting $340 and a supply of marijuana at the time of the offense.

"No escape from our facilities is ever acceptable and we are taking every step to locate and return this individual to custody," Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Peter Thorne said.

He moved to assure the public that a thorough investigation is underway as his department ensures a prison escape does not happen again. Disciplinary action is also on the cards once warranted following the conclusion of the probe, Thorne confirmed.