(UPDATE) NYC Man Leads Police On Foot Chase Across Palisades Parkway, Route 9W

UPDATE: The man wanted in connection with the Palisades Interstate Parkway incident is Shieku Kabba, 33, of 97th St. in Flushing Queens and also staying on West 60th St. in West New York, NJ, according to police.

He is described as 6’3”, 210lbs and is also wanted in New York on probation violation charges. At the time of the incident, he was wearing below knee blue jean shorts, blue socks, white sneakers and a white t-shirt. 

A man who was being searched for possible drugs is sought by after he ran away from police officers and led them on a foot chase across the parkway and Route 9W in New Jersey.

The incident led to a search involving numerous parkway police officers as well as police from Alpine, Closter and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department.

The incident began on Friday when PIP Sgt. Kley Peralta stopped a 2003 Chrysler Sebring with Virginia license plates headed northbound on the Palisades Interstate Parkway, north of the State Line Lookout in Alpine, because the car had defective tail lights.

Lt. Michael Coppola said Peralta noticed the driver, an Ozone Park, Queens, man was nervous and he asked the driver to get out of the car. While speaking with the driver and a passenger who identified herself as the driver’s girlfriend, Peralta was given conflicting information about the couple’s travel plans.

Coppola said the driver became more nervous but consented to a search of the vehicle and his person. During the search, Peralta was in the process of retrieving suspected narcotics when the driver fled on foot across the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway, Coppola said. 

Off-duty New York City police officers who were traveling on the parkway stopped and assisted in the chase just as the driver began to flee.  Coppola said the officers chased the driver into a wooded area west of interchange 4 of the parkway after he ran across the north and south lanes of Route 9W. 

The chase led to a search of the nearby Boy Scout camp by PIP police, with police from Alpine and Closter setting up a perimeter as the Bergen County Sheriff’s K-9 unit worked with the PIP officers. The search was ended after about an hour.

The female passenger and her son were not charged and were later released.  Coppola said warrants for the driver are pending and include charges of Hindering Apprehension, Resisting Arrest, Eluding, Obstruction, Endangering the Welfare of a Child and motor vehicle charges.  

The driver's identity is known to police.