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Five men were arrested following a traffic stop on Long Island for alleged possession of a weapon.
The incident took place around 10:43 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, in New Hyde Park when Nassau County Police officers stopped a vehicle for darkly tinted windows and expired registration, police said.
According to detectives, Special Operations officers were on routine patrol in an unmarked vehicle when they observed a white 2006 Mercury Marquis traveling southbound on New Hyde Park Road.
The vehicle had extremely dark tints on all four windows and the registration was expired, police said.
When officers approached the vehicle they immediately detected a strong odor of marijuana. Officers removed all five occupants.
The occupants included the driver, Hamlet Espinal, 18, of Pennsauken, New Jersey, the front right seat passenger defendant Angel Bonilla, 19 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the rear right passenger defendant Eddy Martinez, 18, of the Bronx along with two other adult males, Eury Garcia, 19, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Alexander Batista Polanco, 18, of Camden, New Jersey.
While talking with the men, officers observed a loaded 9mm pistol from under the front passenger seat of the vehicle and arrested Espinal, Bonilla, and Martinez, police said.
A further investigation led to a second loaded pistol being found in the vehicle.
Espinal was charged with:
- Criminal possession of a forged instrument
- Operation of an unregistered vehicle
- Traffic violations
- Criminal possession of a weapon
- Two counts of criminal possession of a weapon second-degree
- Criminal possession of a weapon third-degree.
- Criminal possession of a weapon in the second and third-degree
- Criminal possession of a firearm
- Criminal possession of a weapon
- Criminal possession of a weapon second-degree
- Criminal possession of a firearm.
Garcia and Polanco were charged with two counts of criminal possession of a firearm and criminal possession of a weapon third-degree.
The five men will be all be arraigned on Tuesday, Dec. 8, in Mineola.
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