Fugitive who fled police in Passaic River sewer pipe may be trapped, cops say

Newark authorities said a robot equipped with a camera was used to search the sewer system overnight Watch video

NEWARK - The man who fled police in Harrison Wednesday by jumping into the Passaic River and climbing into a sewer pipe may be trapped by rising water in the sewer system, police said.

"It was a rescue effort, but unless he got out - and right now no one has seen him get out - now it'll be a recovery," Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said during a press conference Thursday morning near the river.

Ambrose said the rising tide of the Passaic River may have filled the pipes and that the man faced other dangers.

"There's gases, there's 8 feet of water in there," Ambrose said. "There's high tide. So I hope for his sake he did make it out."

Harrison police identified the man Thursday as Keith Jean, 31, of Roselle. He was a passenger in the car that police saw stopped in front of a fire hydrant near Second Street and Cleveland Avenue, Harrison Police Lt. David Doyle said in a news release.

Jean and the driver Arbrey Tucker, 29, of Bloomfield, were acting suspiciously near a parking lot that has been the subject of recent car burglaries, police said. Officers stopped the car after it pulled out of the area, police said.

Tucker was arrested on outstanding warrants, but when police questioned Jean, he bolted and jumped in the Passaic River, police said.

Jean swam to the Newark side and climbed onto a support for the Bridge Street span, police said. He then swam to the drain pipe and climbed inside.

"He held on to some pilings for a while, then at that point, he swam into a sewer basin," Ambrose said. "That is when the police called Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission."

The sewerage commission's executive director, Greg Tramontozzi, said a crew from his plant was back at the scene on Wednesday shortly before 4 p.m., at the the request of Newark police, lowering cameras down into the system to look for signs of the missing man.

"We camera'd at three separate manholes, with no result," Tramontozzi said.

Caitlin Mota of The Jersey Journal contributed to this report.