ICE traffic stop ends in crash involving East Brunswick mayor’s wife

🚨A driver fled an ICE traffic stop on Route 130 and crashed into another vehicle

🚨The driver of the vehicle struck was East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen's wife

🚨 North Brunswick's mayor says local police became involved only after the crash

UPDATE: This report has been updated with a comment from ICE

NORTH BRUNSWICK — A vehicle whose driver fled a traffic stop with ICE agents on Route 130 crashed into a vehicle being driven by the wife of an East Brunswick mayor.

North Brunswick Mayor Francis Womack III said ICE agents stopped an Acura on Route 130 at Washington Place around 7:30 a.m. The driver initially stopped but then sped away through a red light and into another vehicle. The driver ran off but was soon taken into custody.

The driver of the Tesla that was struck, Dr. Penelope Cohen, is the wife of East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen. She was treated for a leg injury at a hospital.

An ICE spokesperson said that the unauthorized immigrant refused to get out of their vehicle during a targeted enforcement operation. After several verbal warnings the ICE officers "relied on their training and attempted to safely remove the illegal alien" but they instead fled.

"The illegal alien was arrested for violating U.S. immigration law, will receive due process, and will remain in custody pending removal proceedings," the spokesperson said. The identify of the individual or details about their violation were not disclosed.

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East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen (left) and wife Dr. Penelope Cohen

Crash draws scrutiny of ICE operation

Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-NJ, 12th District, posted a picture of the crash. She mentioned an incident at Delaney Hall in which she said an ICE vehicle drove into a prayer vigil outside Delaney Hall in Newark and ran over a woman's foot.

"ICE's lawlessness is putting innocent people in harm's way," the retiring representative said.

Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale of the Reformed Church of Highland Park said on his Facebook page that agents smashed the window of their suspect's car trying to get him out.

"ICE must be held accountable for its crimes of attempting to kidnap our neighbors and causing unbelievable danger on our roads. Someone needs to go to jail--and it isn't the immigrant who was just trying to drive to work," Kaper-Dale said.

North Brunswick says police weren't part of stop

Womack stressed that North Brunswick police got involved in the incident only after the crash.

"I want to make clear to our residents that the North Brunswick Police Department was not involved in the federal operation or the attempted motor vehicle stop," Womack said.

New Jersey's Immigrant Trust Directive generally limits state, county and local law enforcement agencies from assisting federal immigration authorities with immigration-enforcement activities.

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