Cops: Reckless driver nabbed after fleeing

When a trooper tried to pull over a speeding Freeport man on the Southern State Parkway Thursday, the driver drove to the shoulder, exited the parkway, hit another vehicle and then led police on a foot chase in West Hempstead before being apprehended, State Police said.

Hamlet Pennicooke, 23, of 505 N. Brookside Ave., was driving an Acura at 94 mph east on the parkway and west of Exit 17, Hempstead Avenue, police said. As a trooper tried to stop the Acura, Pennicooke drove to the shoulder to avoid traffic and left the parkway, going north on Exit 17.

He hit a BMW, injuring its driver, and when another trooper tried to stop the car at Cornwell Avenue and Hempstead Avenue, Pennicooke stopped at Harold J. Walker Memorial Park and fled on foot into a wooded area, police said.

Nassau County police and its canine unit also assisted troopers, and the suspect finally was caught by a canine officer, according to a news release.

Pennicooke is charged with reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer in a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, leaving the scene of a personal injury accident and 15 traffic violations, according to the release.

His arraignment information at First District Court in Hempstead was not immediately available.