TGIS: Thank God It's Schadenfreude! (239)

This week's joy in the misfortune of others comes courtesy of WABC (from Thursday, October 1; link good at time of posting):

Authorities continue to search for a robbery suspect who strolled out of a Manhattan courthouse after he was mistaken for a lawyer.

The Department of Correction says that 56-year-old Ronald Tackman was still at-large Thursday. Tackman has a history of escape attempts and a criminal record dating back to 1978.

Tackman had been wearing a business suit when a court officer spotted him on Wednesday and mistook him for an attorney.

Tackman was a defendant on trial on a second-degree robbery charge.

Despite the efforts of a swift mobilization, the sealing of the Criminal Courthouse building, and the dogs of both the Corrections Department and NYPD K-9 units picking up and following the prisoner's scent, Tackman remained at large

Tackman pulled off his daring escape by walking out of an unlocked State Supreme Court prisoner holding area on the 12th floor of 100 Centre Street.

He strolled through an 11th-floor courtroom, where a court officer apparently mistook him for a lawyer and called him counselor, but didn't stop him. The felon, who should have been treated like a flight risk, walked right out of the north entrance.

Authorities say Tackman visited his mother shortly after his escape, where he changed clothes and then left.

Tackman's mother, Gene Devine, tells NY1 television that her son came home "all dressed up." She says she figured he'd been discharged from prison. He changed clothes before leaving.

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