Pascack Press requests neighborhood police reports every week and shares certain items in the interest of public safety. The following are mere allegations. Defendants are innocent until and unless they’re found guilty in court.
Stopped for bad headlight, gets dinged over drugs
A Chestnut Ridge, New York man faces complaints of possession of marijuana under 50 grams; maintenance of lamps; no registration, driver license, or insurance card in possession; driving while license or registration is suspended; and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle following a traffic stop May 9 just after midnight.
According to the police report, a patrol officer watching traffic from the Oritani Bank parking lot on Grand Avenue at Spring Valley Road saw a Honda traveling east on Grand Avenue with one of its headlights out.
The officer followed and stopped the car, then knocked on the front passenger window. When the defendant rolled it down, the officer immediately detected the odor of raw marijuana emanating from within.
The officer called for backup. When the additional unit arrived, officers asked the defendant about the odor, and he said there might be marijuana in the vehicle.
A probably cause search turned up a small blue glassine baggie and a plastic bag, both containing greenish vegetation believed to be marijuana.
With the driver’s permission, the Honda was locked and parked on Grand Avenue at Lawn Street off of the road on the shoulder.
The defendant was taken to headquarters, processed, and served with complaint and motor vehicle summonses, both returnable to Pascack Joint Municipal Court on June 12.
The defendant was given a courtesy ride back to his car, where he waited for a licensed driver.
Waldwick man said swerving is charged with DWI
An officer on patrol at Grand Avenue just after midnight on May 4 saw a 2017 black Jeep Wrangler, registered in New Jersey, approaching in the westbound lane.
He said he saw the vehicle swerve into the eastbound lane and back into the westbound lane to the fog line. He clocked the car at 46 miles per hour.
He followed the car, later reporting that he saw it swerve over the double yellow lines with the left tires and back over to to the right side of the road.
Once the Jeep crested the top of the hill approaching Split Rock Lane its left side tires traveled over the double yellow line and corrected back to the center of the westbound lane.
The officer reports, “In the area of Split Rock Lane the vehicle traveled over the fog line with its right tires barely missing the curb and correcting back once I activated my patrol vehicle’s emergency lights to conduct a motor vehicle stop.”
The defendant pulled over to the side of the road. At the driver’s window, the officer smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from within.
The defendant reportedly had watery and bloodshot eyes and his hands moved slowly and were fumbling with documents.
The officer said the driver’s documents were expired. He called for backup.
The driver, 29, from Bergen Avenue in Waldwick, could not satisfactorily complete sobriety tests and was arrested for driving while intoxicated. His Jeep was towed.
Summonses for DWI, DWI in a school zone, reckless driving, unsafe lane change, failure to keep right, failure to produce insurance, speeding, and driving in a manner to cause accident were answerable to the Pascack Joint Municipal Court on May 8.
The defendant’s father arrived at a quarter past 2 to collect him.