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Maurice Parker, 23, ignored repeated instructions to get back in the car after officers stopped it just after 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Capt. Peter Busciglio said.
Parker then bolted as the driver sped off, Busciglio said.
Officer Michael Reo chased Parker and caught him hiding behind a trash bin in a rear lot off Essex Street a short time later, the captain said.
A witness told Reo that Parker had tossed something in the bin – which turned to be an 'Iver Johnson" revolver, loaded with three rounds of 9mm ammunition, with a defaced serial number, he said.
A short time later, narcotics detectives found the unoccupied vehicle in the parking lot of an apartment building where the driver lives, Busciglio said.
They went to the door and took the driver – identified as Zephaniah Cherry, 21 – into custody, he said.
Parker was charged with several gun-related offenses. Cherry was charged with eluding and issued several motor vehicle summonses.
Both were sent to the Bergen County Jail, where they remained held Friday pending detention hearings.
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