The NYPD has suspended an officer after the latest case of a prisoner escaping custody again left department brass embarrassed, officials said.

Detectives continued to search for Tiffany Neumann, 23, of Los Angeles, who bolted from a hospital bed in lower Manhattan Sunday while in police custody. Police sources said Neumann, who was initially arrested on charges of petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, had been handcuffed to a bed at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on Gold Street when she was able to slip away.

“There is no excuse for it, it is embarrassing,” NYPD Chief of Department James O’Neill told reporters Monday. “She is not a mastermind criminal. It is totally due to inattentiveness and carelessness. A police officer was suspended last night.”

Police officials wouldn’t reveal the identity of the suspended officer guarding Neumann when she escaped.

But Police Commissioner William Bratton said Monday that after two cases this summer in which prisoners escaped from custody, the department is coming down hard on officers involved.

“I will make that very clear….the punishment we will be putting in place for these types of events, is going to be significant,” Bratton said. “Once we have a person in our custody our responsibility is the care and custody of that individual.”

Neumann had six prior arrests, three in New York City and three in Los Angeles, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. He didn’t release details about the disposition of those earlier cases.

Neumann reportedly had complained about being pregnant, which a police source said wasn’t true. Officers took her to the hospital. She is described as being 5-foot-3 and weighing about 120 pounds.

(AP)