Man, Boy Beat Up and Rob Uber Driver on Garden State Parkway, Police Say

A 20-year-old man and a teenager have been arrested for allegedly attacking an Uber driver on the Garden State Parkway during a robbery last month. 

New Jersey State Police say the driver, Saka Akinkunle, picked up Cashovey McCallum and a 17-year-old boy in Irvington Township Aug. 3. Shortly after they got into his car, they asked to change their destination, police say. 

Akinkunle told them to input the new address in the Uber app, at which point the passengers said their phones were dead and asked to use the driver's device. While they had his phone, they allegedly made an unauthorized transfer of funds from Akinkunle's Uber account into an unknown account. 

Once Akinkunle realized his earnings for the day were gone and all of his text messages had been deleted, he stopped his car on the Parkway exit ramp and confronted the passengers. They then attacked him, flashing a handgun before getting out of the vehicle and fleeing the scene on foot, police say. 

Akinkunle then drove to a State Police station on the Parkway to report the case. After a two-week investigation, which included viewing several hours of video surveillance footage, McCallum and the 17-year-old boy were identified. 

Nearly three weeks later, on Aug. 21, detectives found McCallum in Newark and arrested him. The juvenile suspect was arrested two days later. 

Both face charges of robbery, aggravated assault, theft by deception, making terroristic threats and other crimes. McCallum was being held in the Bergen County Jail; information on a possible attorney for him wasn't immediately available. The 17-year-old suspect was being held at Bergen County Juvenile Detention Center.