They finally flushed out this fugitive!
A murder suspect who escaped from a Brooklyn police precinct yesterday by asking a cop for a bathroom break was captured today by cops hiding out in a friend’s Bronx apartment, the NYPD said.
Brandon Santana, 24, was apprehended at 3:15 p.m. at 3930 Third Avenue by NYPD officers and the Regional Fugitive Task Force, about 37 hours after he ran, un-handcuffed, from the 78th Precinct in Park Slope after knocking down a cop escorting him to the toilet.
Police said that the girlfriend of Santana’s friend opened the door when they arrived, and she told them that a pal of her boyfriend was staying there.
Cops found Santana standing in the bedroom, and took him into custody without incident, according to the NYPD.
Santana is suspected of repeatedly bashing 22-year-old dad-to-be Alexander Santiago with a lead pipe during a gang assault on the man and three of his friends at 12th Street and Fifth Avenue in Park Slope on Aug. 1, 2010.
After Santana’s latest arrest today, Santiago’s girlfriend Stephanie Mercado, told The Post, “’I hope the cops keep him tight, and don’t let him get away.”
“No bathroom breaks this time,” Mercado said. “And now that they have him we want them to get the rest of the cowards. I want justice.”
Santana’s apprehension was the second time in the past week he was caught by cops.
He had been hiding out with a relative in Iowa, but returned to the city this week – and was promptly caught by cops who wanted to arrest him for Santiago’s murder.
Detectives questioned Santana at the station house Wednesday night, and then left at the end of their shift at 1 a.m. yesterday, expecting to put him in a witness lineup later.
An hour later, after he had been placed in a first-floor holding cell, Santana asked the officer minding him if he could use the bathroom.
When the cop opened the cell door, Santana — who was not handcuffed — shoved the officer, knocking him to the ground, and ran straight out of the station house, law-enforcement sources said.
One cop behind the front desk jumped over it to chase him, but hurt himself in the process, sources said.
A lieutenant also went after Santana but couldn’t catch up, sources said.
“It’s like they gave us justice, then took it away,” said Anaisa Santiago, Alexander’s 15-year-old sister yesterday.