NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A suspect escaped police custody and ran into the subway Thursday evening in Lower Manhattan, police said.

As CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, it all started around 7:45 p.m. when the suspect – a man in his 20s – was handcuffed in the back of a police squad car. He apparently had been arrested on allegations of shoplifting from a nearby Gap store, sources said.

Officers were transporting him to the 1st Precinct station, but the suspect apparently had other ideas, and jumped out of the back of the squad car, police said.

He wound up running, still handcuffed, into the Franklin Street No. 1 Train station, at Franklin Street and West Broadway in TriBeCa, Conybeare reported. The entrance to the subway station was shut down following the incident.

As police searched for the suspect, No. 1 trains were also halted between 14th Street and South Ferry. No. 2 and 3 trains were also suspended between 14th and Wall streets.

Many commuters expressed frustration about being unable to get home with the subways shut down.

“Unfortunately, I can’t take this subway right now because it looks like a vacant lot,” one commuter said.

By 9:35 p.m., subway service had resumed.

But as CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco reported, residents in the area were perturbed as they were welcomed home by a massive police presence.

“I get a little nervous these days, you know?” said Keith Steimel of TriBeCa. “It’s kind of like you never really know what the deal is.”

Police also combed the Hudson River. An NYPD boat with search lights was out, checking the waters for any sign of the suspect.

The prisoner Thursday evening was the sixth to escape from NYPD custody since June. A string of escapes this past summer and fall drew the ire of police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, Gerald Brooks, 39, was being taken to the 73rd Precinct station house when he escaped police custody around 5:30 a.m. in East New York, Brooklyn. His hands were cuffed behind his back when he pushed a police officer to the ground and ran off, police said.

On Aug. 30, Tiffany Neumann, 23, fled from a lower Manhattan hospital after slipping out of her handcuffs. Police called the incident embarrassing and said the officer who was supposed to be guarding Neumann had been suspended.

On Aug, 16, Austin Stevenson, 25, was taken into custody in East Harlem on suspicion of criminal trespass. As he was led to the 23rd Precinct station house, police said Stevenson pushed his escorting officer and took off.

Arthur Collins escaped from the 25th Precinct, also in East Harlem, on July 24 after he got out of his holding cell when he was being booked on a burglary charge.

On June 23, Tareek Arnold escaped from detectives in the 32nd Precinct in Harlem. Surveillance video showed him running down the street in handcuffs while detectives chased after him.

Following the October incident, Bratton was furious.

“We’re not going to tolerate it,” the commissioner said in October. “I’m very concerned when somebody with a pair of handcuffs handcuffed behind him can flee from three of my officers and they cannot catch him. Sorry, there’s something wrong there when that’s happening — repeatedly, over and over again.”

TriBeCa residents agreed Thursday night that the escapes were a serious problem that police must correct.

“It’s really unfortunate that the police can’t hang onto people,” Steimel said. I mean, you’re in handcuffs, all of a sudden, you’re in custody and you can get away, so that’s a problem the police have to deal with.”

Sources said police did not even have a chance to fingerprint the suspect before he bolted, and thus, they cannot confirm his identity.