Handcuffed Man Caught Escaping Police Custody In Queens: Cops

BRIARWOOD, QUEENS — A manhunt seized a corner of Briarwood for an hour Tuesday morning after a handcuffed man escaped from police custody, according to police.

Johensal Martetejada, 29, was being driven to Queens criminal court in Kew Gardens when he broke out of a police van by 135th Street and 82nd Drive about 8:20 a.m., CBS New York reported.

Police officers caught him near Union Turnpike and 134th Street roughly an hour later, according to the news station.

Queens warrant officers had arrested Martetejada that morning after he violated his parole by failing to return to court for an assault case, according to the New York Daily News.

He has 20 prior arrests, the Daily News reported.

The search played out just around the corner from Queens County Criminal Court and the decommissioned detention center where the Mayor's Office for Criminal Justice has proposed building a new jail, part of a hotly-contested plan to close the notorious jails on Rikers Island.

The escape is the second in Queens so far this month.

A man facing a weapons charge fled the criminal courthouse in Kew Gardens on Oct. 2 after a judge revoked his bail, according to NBC New York. He was captured shortly after.

It also comes a week after a robbery suspect escaped from cops in Brooklyn. That man is still on the loose, after an apparent "mix-up in communication" led to police telling reporters he'd been caught.