The 31-year-old man who jumped into the Passaic River following a traffic stop yesterday afternoon was the passenger in a vehicle police said was engaging in "suspicious activity."
HARRISON -- The 31-year-old man who jumped into the Passaic River after a traffic stop yesterday was the passenger in a vehicle police said was engaging in "suspicious activity."
At about noon yesterday, police noticed a Chevy Impala with two men inside -- 29-year-old Arbrey Tucker, of Bloomfield, and 31-year-old Keith Jean, of Roselle -- parked in front of a fire hydrant near Second Street and Cleveland Avenue, Harrison Police Lt. David Doyle said in a news release.
Doyle said both men were "in and out of the car watching a parking lot" that has been the subject of several car burglaries. Tucker then drove out of the neighborhood with Jean as his passenger. Police stopped their vehicle on Passaic Avenue in East Newark near Johnson Avenue, cops said.
Police questioned Tucker about the suspicious activity and found he did not have a license. He was arrested on open warrants out of Newark, according to the release.
But when officers went to ask Jean for his information, he took off on foot and jumped into the Passaic River "in an effort to escape." Police officers from Harrison and East Newark tried to retrieve Jean from the river, but the 31-year-old told officers he wasn't going back to jail and refused their assistance, Doyle said.
Jean swam deeper into the river and was "under continuous observation" until marine units arrived at the scene, police said.
Minutes before a State Police boat arrived to the location with members of the Newark Police Department's Tactical Response Team, Jean swam in to a storm train near NJ Transit's Newark Drawbridge.
Police still have not yet been able to locate Jean. During a news conference this morning in Newark, authorities said the search is more of a "recovery" effort at this point and do not think Jean could have survived through high tide and gases.
Jean was being sought by two other jurisdictions, but it was not immediately known where or for what he is wanted. He is not currently listed on the state's Department of Corrections website, which provides records of offenders who are incarcerated or recently released from prison.