ICE Car Chase Ends In Collision With NJ Mayor’s Wife

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ —A car fleeing federal immigration agents on Wednesday ended in a crash involving the wife of East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said.

The incident took place Wednesday morning in North Brunswick.

"Today, it appears an ICE involved car chase resulted in an accident involving the wife of the Mayor of East Brunswick," Watson Coleman wrote on X. "ICE's lawlessness is putting innocent people in harms way. #AbolishICE"

Seth Kaper-Dale, pastor at Reformed Church of Highland Park and an immigration advocate, offered his own account of how the incident began, saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled a car over on or near Route 130 in North Brunswick and broke the driver's window in an attempt to get him out of the vehicle. Kaper-Dale said the driver then fled, leading to a chase that ended in the crash involving the mayor's wife.

North Brunswick Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack later confirmed that Cohen's wife, Penelope Cohen, a physician, was involved in the crash, according to reporting by NJ.com and MyCentralJersey.com. Township officials said ICE agents were conducting a motor vehicle stop around 7:30 a.m. near Route 130 South and Raider Road. The driver initially stopped, then sped away from federal agents, ran a red light, and collided with Cohen's vehicle, officials said.

Cohen was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick along with the other driver; officials said her injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. The driver sought by ICE got out of his vehicle and fled on foot after the crash before being apprehended by federal agents a short time later, officials said.

North Brunswick police said on Facebook that the crash reduced Route 130 South to one lane at Raider Road, causing heavy delays.

Watson Coleman's post also referenced a separate incident from two days earlier in which an ICE vehicle struck a woman's foot during a vigil outside Newark's Delaney Hall detention facility.

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