Emerson DWI driver flees traffic stop, crashes, resists, Paramus police charge

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A drunk driver from Emerson took off after being stopped by a Paramus police officer on Route 17 overnight, then crashed his car into a divider and fought with officers who took him into custody, authorities said.

Photo Credit: *Theresa Wekarski Elsasser / MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF*

Jerry DeMarco

02/18/2015 4:07 p.m.

Kenneth McKersie, 31, was taken into by ambulance to Hackensack University Medical Center to be treated for injuries sustained in the crash before being transferred to the Bergen County Jail.

A judge set bail at $50,000 on charges of DWI, eluding and resisting, as well as for driving with a suspended license.

McKersie’s 1996 four-door red Mercury had been swerving across three northbound lanes when Paramus Police Officer Matthew McGuire pulled him over near A&S Drive around 2:20 a.m., Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

McGuire could tell instantly as he approached the car that McKersie was drunk, the chief said.

They were talking when McKersie “suddenly put the vehicle in drive and sped away on Route 17 north,” Ehrenberg said.

The Mercury crashed moments later near Sheridan Avenue, he said.

Backup officers from Paramus and Waldwick helped subdue the combative McKersie.

CVP PHOTO: Theresa Wekarski Elsasser / MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY SHERIFF

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