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Emergency Response Team Officer Mohammad Bashir was investigating an armed robbery report in the 200 block of Carroll Street when he approached a silver Saturn parked on Pearl Street around 1:30 a.m. Monday, Police Director Jerry Speziale said.
The driver, 33-year-old Courtney Douglas of Paterson, “reached quickly into the center of the vehicle and then attempted to hide something in the side of the door while watching the officer and reacting nervously to his presence,” Speziale said.
Through the driver’s side window, Bashir could see a bag of pot in Douglas’s lap and an open Patron bottle on the floor, the director said.
After ordering Douglas out of the car, Bashir found a Phoenix Arms .25-caliber semi-automatic handgun with a loaded 9-round magazine in the center console, he said.
Douglas was charged with weapons possession and later released pending a hearing.
Flash ahead to just before 11 p.m. New Year’s Day.
This time, Bashir called for backup after spotting a large crowd outside the Question Mark Lounge & Liquor Store on Cianci Street, “blocking a public passageway and blocking the public from the entrance to the residential buildings,” Speziale said.
As the officers approached the group, Bashir saw a man – later identified as 18-year-old Malcolm Freckleton, also of Paterson -- with a black ski mask half over his face and a bulge weighing down a side pocket of his sweatpants, the director said.
Seeing the officers, Freckleton tried ducking into the building, which was locked, then quickly tipped away, Speziale said.
As he unzipped his sweatshirt, Bashir spotted the butt of a handgun, he added.
The officer alerted his colleagues – and Freckleton took off with the gun in his hand, Speziale said.
They eventually caught him on Van Houten Street, recovered the Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver – loaded with four rounds of ammo -- and took Freckleton into custody, the director said.
He remained held Thursday in the Passaic County Jail on weapons charges.
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