PARK RIDGE, N.J.—Police on patrol on Kinderkamack Road recently saw a car drive by with its wipers, but not its headlights, activated. Rain had been falling in the area for a few minutes.
The officer activated his emergency lights, closed the distance, and stopped the defendant at the intersection of Kinderkamack Road and Stone Hollow Drive in Montvale.
The report reads in part, “When the vehicle stopped I observed a license plate bracket that covered the top lettering to California on the license plate.”
The officer says he approached the vehicle from the driver’s side and spoke with the defendant, who said he was on his back to work from a local diner and that he resides in Pearl River, New York while working to relocate his family from California.
As the officer heard the man’s story, he detected the odor of raw marijuana emanating from within the vehicle. He requested another unit to the scene.
The defendant reported there was marijuana in the center console and that he did not have a prescription marijuana card valid for New Jersey.
He was searched, handcuffed, and placed in the rear of a patrol car.
Taken to headquarters, he was processed and served with his motor vehicle summonses. Owing to computer problems, he was told criminal charges would be drafted as soon as possible. He agreed to return to headquarters to be served in person once the computer systems were back in order.
All told the complaints were for possession of marijuana under 50 grams, headlamps on with windshield wipers, fictitious plates, possession of controlled dangerous substances in a motor vehicle, unregistered vehicle, failure to exhibit valid insurance card, and failure to notify DMV of address change.
He was given a courtesy ride back to his car.
Police later said they tried repeatedly to coordinate with the defendant to have him return to headquarters to be served.
“Due to his work schedule and not answering my calls, complaint number [redacted] was mailed certified and regular to his California address and a New York address” that he’d supplied, police said.
They added that a voicemail was left for the defendant about the mailings and that he could direct questions, if he had any, to Pascack Joint Municipal Court.
How did man’s license wind up in couple’s new car?
A couple were perplexed when they found a stranger’s driver’s license on the front passenger side floorboard of the wife’s new car on the morning of Nov. 20.
The car, a Mini Cooper purchased in Ramsey in September, had been kept in a locked detached garage. There were no signs of forced entry to the car or garage, and the wife had not had any passengers in her car recently.
The dealer did not have a record of the license holder as an employee.
Police called the license holder. When he returned the call, he explained that he had lost his card several months ago. The last place he remembered having it was when he test drove a Mini at Mini of Ramsey. After test-driving a model, he bought a similar one.
His license, left behind in the couple’s new car, evidently slid out from under the seat in recent days, all agreed. Fortunately, he had already replaced his wayward credential. The case was closed.
Stopped for not using headlights in the dark, she gets new court dates
Upon initiating a traffic stop at 11:38 p.m. on Nov. 17, for driving without headlights on, it was determined that a New Milford Boro woman had a suspended driver’s license and active traffic warrants: Newark for $150 and Jersey City for $100.
The defendant could not post bail on either warrant. She was given new court dates.