Cops: Mastic fugitive arrested after jump into Forge River

A fugitive sent himself up the river Tuesday morning — and his pursuers had to fish him out, police said.

Officers pulled over Kareem Eppes, 24, of Moriches Avenue in Mastic, at about 11 a.m. as he drove a 2017 Lincoln MKX because they realized he was wanted for minor drug offenses, Suffolk County police said.

Eppes drove off as the officers approached him on Poospatuck Lane in Mastic, according to police.

His initial flight was cut short, police said, because he went down a dead-end street, Abby Lane.

Abandoning the Lincoln, Eppes jumped into the Forge River, a waterway between Mastic and Moriches.

Suffolk police, joined by emergency services, searched for Eppes for about 20 minutes before finding him upriver, about 100 yards east of the shore, behind Overlook Drive, they said.

The aviation section lowered a life preserver to Eppes, who was “in distress,” police said. He was hauled out of the water and into a boat that officers and detectives borrowed from a nearby resident, police said.

Eppes was evaluated and released from Long Island Medical Center in East Patchogue, the police said.

He was charged with misdemeanors of unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and obstructing governmental administration. He also must answer two misdemeanor bench warrants for criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of marijuana, the police said.

The suspect will be arraigned on Wednesday at First District Court in Central Islip.