Criminal escapes from Bronx psych ward: Report

A psych patient with more than 60 criminal arrests has escaped from Bronx Lebanon Hospital.

Torian Koonce, 28, walked away from his unguarded room at the hospital near the corner of Grand Concourse Avenue and East 173rdStreet around 4 p.m. on Thursday, the New York Post has reported.

Koonce, who was in the care of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene when he escaped, has an extensive rap sheet that includes criminal trespassing, public lewdness, burglary, assault and drug possession, sources said to the Post.

The escape comes as authorities in New York have suffered recent embarrassments related to criminals fleeing custody, including a handcuffed suspect who managed to run from officers in Tribeca last December, ABC reported. He was the sixth suspect to flee from custody in as many months.

Koonce managed to walk from Bronx Lebanon Hospital on Thursday afternoon when two social workers who were tasked with watching him left for lunch, sources said to the Post.

“They just left him to his own devices, and he walked out the front door,” a law enforcement source was quoted by the Post.

Koonce has current warrants for alcohol consumption and panhandling, the Post stated, adding that officials did not return a request for a comment.