A prisoner escaped NYPD custody Thursday because the cop who was supposed to be guarding him left the room to yak on his cell phone, police sources said.
Officer Albert Belcher, who joined the NYPD in July 2011, has been suspended and now faces likely disciplinary charges for the flub, which let Daniel Ortiz duck out of his hospital room at Lenox Health Greenwich Village at 3:30 p.m, sources said Friday.
Belcher was lounging in a chair outside the room and talking on his phone when Ortiz, 31, walked out with a leg shackle tucked into his boot, sources said. Ortiz had a noticeable limp and may have been bleeding from the wrist, police said. He was last seen entering a subway station at West 14th Street.
Ortiz, 31, was arrested for shoplifting, and has 15 prior arrests including two for assault.