Seen these teens? Cops say their wild crash killed deaf comic

JERSEY CITY — Police are hoping the public can help identify two people caught on video after a pedestrian was killed during a police chase Tuesday morning.

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office released the video of the suspects seen heading south on Kennedy Boulevard, away from the scene where the pedestrian was killed. The crash happened before 5 a.m., according to NJ.com.

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said on Twitter Tuesday morning that the crash involved a pursuit by the Hudson County Sheriff's Department. According to the NJ.com story, police were chasing an SUV when the driver being pursued jumped a curb and hit a pedestrian.

At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said police were pursuing a stolen SUV, according to another story on NJ.com. In that story, Suarez said a 16-year-old in the SUV was taken to a local hospital for treatment while police continued to search for two other teenagers.

The story identified the person killed in the crash as 33-year-old Umar King.

NBC 4 New York reported King worked for FedEx and was on his way home from work when he was struck. King was also an aspiring comedian, according to the report.

During the press conference, Suarez and other officials did not say who was driving the SUV or what relationship the three teens might have to each other, according to the story. The prosecutor did say that the car was reported stolen from the city on Jan. 19, according to NJ.com.

According to a Facebook page for a person with the same name, King was from Jersey City but currently living in Montclair. The page said King attended Model Secondary School for the Deaf before studying at Boise State University.

Several of King's friends took to social media to mourn his death, including Thyson Halley, who described King as a best friend, and said King "was (an) amazing young man who (would) help anyone in need." The post said King taught American Sign Language classes at the Bethune Center of Jersey City.

Members of the deaf community remembered King on Tuesday night in a tribute in which they used sign language, according to ABC 7 Eyewitness News.

The prosecutor's office encouraged anyone with information about the two people in the video to call 201-915-1345.

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Contact reporter Adam Hochron at 609-359-5326 or Adam.Hochron@townsquaremedia.com