Man taken into custody following naked boat theft escapes from hospital
Jul 23, 2025, 2:16 PM | Updated: 2:32 pm
NEW YORK (AP) — A man accused of stealing a boat for a naked sail on the Hudson River escaped from a hospital while in custody after apparently slipping into a medical lab coat Wednesday, police said.
Images published by the New York Post show the 36-year-old man wearing a white coat, blue hospital pants and no shoes while leaving Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where he was taken after his July 19 arrest.
He is believed to have left the hospital around 6:30 a.m., police said. It was unclear how he escaped police custody.
The man jumped from rocks at a Manhattan marina around noon Saturday and boarded a dinghy in the Hudson River, police said. He then sailed it to a larger, moored boat and climbed aboard, police said.
He was naked when New York Police Department harbor and aviation officers caught up to him and took him into custody.
The man was hospitalized for evaluation before being arraigned on charges of grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and reckless endangerment.
