NYPD manhunt shuts down west side trains

A police manhunt for an accused teen chain snatcher shut down train service on the West Side Monday morning.

Vincens Vuktilaj, 18, was on the loose for about five hours after he escaped custody before being arrested again in the afternoon, police said.

He was in cuffs being led out of his Saint Nicholas Avenue apartment in Harlem at 10:15 a.m. when he pushed past a detective and disappeared into a nearby 145th Street station without any shoes, police said. He was first arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing chains from two women in late April.

He was out on bail over the weekend and when he was arrested for the second time on additional grand larceny allegations, NYPD said. Those charges are still pending. Meanwhile, Vuktilaj was charged with felony counts of assault two and escaping.

Vuktilaj, who allegedly escaped wearing a yellow long-sleeved shirt and jeans, was picked up at 3:30 p.m. as he exited a subway station at West 135th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue. Charges were pending yesterday afternoon.

The search, which included K-9 units, caused a shutdown of the A, C, B and D lines from around 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., an MTA spokeswoman said. The NYPD search also caused 515 passengers in a southbound A train to get stuck between stations until they could board a rescue train back to the 59th Street station, according to the MTA spokeswoman.

(Dan Rivoli)