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The woman ran off after Devin D. Nickens, 30, crashed a 2007 Ford Focus on eastbound Route 46 at the border of Hasbrouck Heights and Teterboro shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday, July 30.
Officers who responded to the victim's Pasadena Avenue home were talking with her father moments later when she called to tell him what had happened, Lodi Police Chief Donald Scorzetti said.
Nickens had chased her onto Route 17 after the crash, assaulting her in the process, she said.
Hasbrouck Heights police found her in front of the Aviation Institute, Scorzetti said. She was evaluated for a possible head injury.
The damaged vehicle was towed for evidence.
Nickens, who'd run off, then called Hasbrouck Heights police claiming that the victim had actually assaulted him.
The call was disconnected before a dispatcher could determine his location, they said, adding that numerous callbacks were unsuccessful.
An alert went out for a suspect with a kitchen knife who was considered armed and dangerous.
State Police and a Bergen County Sheriff's K9 Unit were among the responders to join in the search. Nickens's home was checked, and he wasn't there.
State Police pinged his phone, then captured Nickens at the mega-mall in East Rutherford.
Nickens had been arrested on assault charges by Hackensack police in May,. A judge ordered him released from the Bergen County Jail the very next day, records show.
This time he remains held in the county lockup pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack on charges that include kidnapping, assault and illegal weapons possession.
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