A Brooklyn man is facing felony drug charges after troopers say he led them on a chase from a Taconic State Parkway traffic stop in East Fishkill onto Interstate 84, only to be caught when one of his tires blew out in Putnam County. Inside his car, state police say they found roughly 12 pounds of suspected fentanyl.
According to the Daily Voice, New York State Police troopers attempted to stop a 2012 Nissan traveling northbound on the Taconic State Parkway on Monday. The driver, identified as 36-year-old Tyrike Gibbs of Brooklyn, refused to pull over and instead led troopers onto the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84, according to New York State Police. The Taconic State Parkway itself stretches 104 miles through Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Columbia counties, functioning as a key north-south link between New York City and the Hudson Valley, according to Wikipedia, while I-84 is an east-west route across the Hudson Valley between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, per East Coast Roads.
A Blown Tire Brings the Chase to a Halt
The pursuit ended on Carmel Avenue in the Town of Southeast, in Putnam County, after the Nissan's driver-side tire failed and the car became disabled, the station's report states. That's where New York State Police K9 Wild was brought in to conduct an exterior sniff of the vehicle, and the dog alerted to the odor of narcotics, giving troopers probable cause to search the car.
Inside, troopers say they found approximately 5,455 grams of suspected fentanyl, equivalent to about 12 pounds, per the same account. K9 Wild was involved in the search.
The dog was named in honor of fallen NYSP Trooper Carl T. Wilder.
Not K9 Wild's First Highway Drug Find
This isn't the first time K9 Wild has sniffed out a major highway drug stash along the same corridor. In July 2025, the dog helped Troop K troopers detect 1.4 kilograms of hidden cocaine during a separate traffic stop on the Taconic State Parkway in the Town of Stanford, according to Patch. Troop K relies on its Community Stabilization Unit to run targeted proactive enforcement along Hudson Valley highways specifically to interdict illicit drugs and illegal firearms, per Patch's reporting.
To put the scale of Monday's seizure in perspective, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration considers as little as 2 milligrams of fentanyl a potentially lethal dose, according to the DEA. That math means the roughly 5,455 grams found in Gibbs's car is mathematically equivalent to more than 2.7 million lethal doses. Nationally, the DEA reported seizing over 47 million fentanyl pills and nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2025 alone. The seizure involved roughly 5,455 grams of suspected fentanyl.
Felony Charges and No Bail
Gibbs was charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance involving eight ounces or more of a narcotic drug, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, and third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle, state police said. The first-degree possession charge was described as involving eight ounces or more of a narcotic drug. The quantity troopers say they found in the Nissan exceeds that threshold by more than twentyfold.
The fleeing charge was third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle. Gibbs was arraigned in Southeast Town Court and remanded to Putnam County Jail, state police said.
Gibbs was arraigned in Southeast Town Court and remanded to Putnam County Jail, state police said. New York State Police released images of the suspected fentanyl recovered during the stop.
K9 Wild also took part in a separate 2025 Taconic State Parkway stop that turned up cocaine.
