Pankey
Courtesy of the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department
WILKES-BARRE — A Wilkes-Barre man wanted since March, when he allegedly initiated a pursuit with a toddler in his vehicle and slammed into two Wilkes-Barre City police cruisers, was captured on Sunday.
Jaquan Ellis Pankey, 31, address listed as 164 Coal St., was involved in a domestic dispute when he choked a woman and removed a 1-year-old girl from her at his residence on March 18, according to court records.
Pankey fled in a Dodge Durango with the toddler in the back seat, court records allege.
Police spotted Pankey at the gasoline pump islands of the Sunoco station at Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard and Coal Street.
Pankey refused officers’ commands to put the vehicle in park and turn off the ignition. Pankey yelled at officers that he was going to New York City, accelerated and stopped several times in the service station parking lot before he fled, initiating a pursuit, court records say.
A city police officer was struck by the Dodge as Pankey allegedly sped out of the parking lot.
Police in court records allege Pankey drove at a high rate of speed and got onto Interstate 81 northbound with the toddler still in the Dodge. Pankey stopped on I-81 as an officer pulled his cruiser in front of him, and Pankey rammed the rear of the cruiser, court records say.
During the pursuit, according to court records, Pankey struck other police cruisers. Two cruisers sustained extensive damage.
Police terminated the pursuit on the North Cross Valley Expressway.
Shortly after the pursuit was terminated, Pankey returned to his residence and surrendered the child to the woman before driving away in a 2019 Mercedes, court records say.
At the time of the alleged pursuit in March, Pankey was serving two years’ probation for evading Hanover Township police stemming from a traffic stop on Oxford Street on July 20, 2024.
Pankey was apprehended on Sunday after he attempted to escape arrest by police.
Court records allege Pankey was in possession of a firearm and illicit drugs when he was apprehended.
Pankey was arraigned Monday by District Judge Rick Cronauer of Wilkes-Barre on multiple counts of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, child endangerment, fleeing or attempting to elude police, accidents involving damage to an attended vehicle, driving with a suspended license, illegal possession of a firearm, receiving stolen property, flight to avoid apprehension, and possession of a controlled substance.
Pankey was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail after being deemed a threat to society.
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