'Wild man' leaves psychiatric center

NEW YORK, May 30 (UPI) -- A New York man who allegedly once mugged seniors and threatened children with nail-studded clubs has fled a residential psychiatric center, police said.

Larry Hogue, nicknamed The Wild Man of 96th St., left the Creditor Psychiatric Center in Queens Thursday and reportedly was seen Friday night in his old neighborhood, The New York Daily News reported Saturday.

Hogue, 65, allegedly terrorized the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1990s when he was addicted to crack cocaine, said police, who described the 5-foot-10, 265-pound man as bipolar and "extremely violent."

In the 1990s, Hogue alleged mugged seniors, threatened children, set fires under cars, broke church windows, masturbated in public and assaulted dozens of people, police said.

"I've been a New Yorker my whole life and he's the only thing that makes me afraid. This man is dangerous and I'm terrified," said Dorothy White, a resident of Upper West Side for 25 years.

Creedmore, the psychiatric center, declined to comment on Hogue's escape, the Daily News reported.