Officer Michael Palmer said he and Special Class II Officer Omar Zadeh noticed the 2003 Dodge Ram when the driver, Travis Corter, 26, of Dingmans Fry, PA flicked ashes out his window on West Broadway.
As they began to follow the pickup truck, it suddenly crossed the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, Palmer reported.
Palmer said he immediately activated his overhead lights and siren.
Once Corter finally pulled over, the officer said, he asked him where they’d been.
“Cliff Street in Paterson,” front-seat passenger Tyler Presto, 26, of Promiseland, PA shouted excitedly, he reported.
Corter appeared possibly under the influence of drugs, so Palmer said he had both men and a female back-seat passenger step out.
Presto had 550 heroin folds and three bundles of the drug in a plastic shopping bag stuffed into his pants, the officer said.
He insisted the heroin wasn't his, that Corter threw it to him -- and that’s why the truck swerved into oncoming traffic, he said.
Corter told police Presto was lying.
Presto was charged with drug offenses and released pending a court date. Corter received summonses for failing to keep right and littering from a motor vehicle.
The backseat passenger was released without charges.
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ALSO SEE: Shock and sorrow spread through Haledon and beyond on Sunday with word that the school district’s beloved head custodian and his wife were killed in a horrific crash hours earlier.
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