Prisoner who escaped ICE agents at JFK Airport caught in Chicago
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A prisoner being deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents when he escaped their custody at JFK Airport has been caught in Chicago.
Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke, 31, was being deported to Senegal on a prior weapons arrest when he apparently ran away from the agents in Terminal 4, at Gate B23, around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Sources say the officers had gotten him something to eat as they waited for his flight to Dakar. They turned their backs for a split second, and he was gone.
They searched the terminal themselves, showing airport workers at duty free shops and newsstands Mbacke's picture. It wasn't until nearly two hours later, when the flight was about to depart, that they finally notified local authorities.
PAPD immediately flooded the terminal with officers and opened a command post, but it was far too late.
According to court papers, "The defendant asked for and received permission to sit approximately eight to ten rows away from the deportation officers. Shortly thereafter... the defendant departed the gate area."
Mbacke was caught on surveillance video fleeing the airport in a yellow cab during that time. He was taken into custody without incident in Chicago at a Starbucks coffee shop near the downtown Amtrak station.
"There wasn't any chaos, aggression, no yelling, just silent handcuff and they all just left with him," said Starbucks employee Zimbo Jessert.
"No, nothing was said," said Starbucks employee Angelique Williams. "It was quiet, very quiet, that is why I was so surprised. So I was like, what did he do?"
How agents tracked Mbacke to Chicago is still not clear.
Mbacke had flown with the agents from Detroit and was awaiting a connecting flight. He served state prison time in Michigan for gun possession and was ordered deported after his release, but it appears ICE didn't carry out that order until Tuesday.
He will be returned to Brooklyn to be prosecuted and presumably then deported back to Senegal.
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