Police searching for escaped parolee on Staten Island

TOMPKINSVILLE, Staten Island (WABC) -- A manhunt is underway on Staten Island Thursday after a parolee escaped from a home.

Police say officers arrived at the house on St. Paul's Avenue in the Stapleton section around 7 a.m., taking 41-year-old Hector Calo into custody on a parole violation. That's when they say he made a run for it, still in his underwear with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

"I heard the helicopters very loud and low over the house about 7, and I came out," neighbor Joan Harmon said. "There was a police car going this way on St. Paul's, and he said they were looking for a guy in his underwear that was handcuffed."

Calo was on parole for a burglary after serving time in state prison in Fishkill. He was conditionally released in August 2015. The specifics of his parole violation were not released.

"I think they need more police assistance, you know?" neighbor Eileen Hussein said. "If they had more cops, I think that would scare him off. He'd be running a little more. More police assistance, you know?"

NYPD officers went from home to home, searching rooftops and bushes for any sign of him. Police helicopters few overhead, searching from above.

"They got out of the car three or four houses up from me, and they started going in the backyard," Harmon said. "So I went into my backyard, and I said, 'Who is that?' And it turned out it was them. Somebody was moving back there. But the police were going from yard to yard."

He is described as being approximately 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He was last seen wearing a white tank top, dark colored shorts and black sneakers.

Anyone with information is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.