Bizarre moment New Mexico scam artist tries to escape from cops by climbing through hospital ceiling after complaining of chest pains

A serial conman tried to use his skills on arresting officers in New Mexico by pretending he had a heart attack and scuttling off though a bathroom ceiling.

Steven Byers, 61, was arrested on multiple outstanding warrants by Bernalillo County sheriffs on February 9, eleven months after absconding from parole.

Police bodycam video shows him persuading police to remove his cuffs to go to the bathroom, moments before medics warned them that someone was crawling through the ceiling above their heads.

Officers burst into the bathroom to see a ceiling panel missing and set off in pursuit, eventually finding him hiding under a pile of insulation material in a wall cavity.

'Unfortunately, we don't treat everybody like they're an extreme risk,' a sheriff's spokesman said.

'We trusted that he was going to comply, and he was truly there, at the hospital, with a medical condition and that he wasn't going to try to escape.'

Byers who has a criminal record dating back 40 years made his way back to his home state after being freed on parole in Nevada in 2017.

More than a dozen victims had reported him for home improvement fraud after he was paid for work on their homes that he failed to complete.

At the time of his arrest he was also wanted for driving a stolen vehicle and operating as a contractor without a license.

Police took him to Lovelace Hospital after he complained of 'stomach issues' and they uncuffed him so he could use the bathroom.

'No funny business, don't take off, don't do anything stupid,' Deputy Lorenzo Herrera warned him.

Forty-five minutes later he warned officers his condition was deteriorating and asked if he could go again, moaning: 'I think I'm having a heart attack, dude.'

As the minutes ticked by, one puzzled nurse reported hearing 'scratching' in the ceiling and officers burst into bathroom to find an overturned trash can under a missing ceiling panel.

Medics scrambled to evacuate patients from the ward for fear the absconder would crash onto their beds.

'Get down!' one yelled, 'he's in the ceiling!'

'Steven climbed up into the ceiling of the first floor and was moving from north to south and back and forth, looking for a way out of the hospital,' one deputy wrote.

'Due to Steven's comments about needing to use the restroom and even being handcuffed in front of his body, I did not believe Steven would be able to clean himself effectively.

'Steven had been compliant up until this point and had previously used the restroom to throw up from these stomach problems with no issues.'

Deputy Herrera set off in pursuit while being guided by directions from below, eventually spotting Byers curled up in a cavity.

'That was stupid,' the officer told him.

'Yeah, I tried,' Byers replied, 'Let's go.'

'Why would you do something like that?' Herrera demanded.

'I got scared,' the criminal claimed.

An undercover detective with the sheriff's office told KOAT that Byers is 'one of those persons that we're going to have to take extra precautions on and have a heightened awareness of his ability to escape'.

'Not just his willingness, but he's intelligent. He knows what we can and can't do with regard to, you know, basic human rights.'

Dan Klein, a former Albuquerque police detective who arrested Byers in the 1980s, said his former charge has 'not slowed up at all'.

'You know, it's some people you'll never rehabilitate. And the only thing you can do is house them. And Steven Byers is that type of guy.'

Byers was put back in handcuffs and given a clean bill of health by hospital staff.

He asked to go to the bathroom again but was told he would have to wait until they got to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

He is back in jail awaiting trial, and the hospital estimates the cost of repairing the damage he caused at $20,000.