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Hakeem Gentles, 26, of Spring Valley was intoxicated when his car struck another in a Montvale driveway over the weekend, according to a police report.
Responding Police Officer Russell DiLauri found the heavily damaged vehicle unoccupied on the Magnolia Avenue victim's lawn.
The resident pointed him toward to a gas station on North Kinderkamack Road, where DiLauri stopped a female driver who'd just made a U-turn.
Asked where she was headed, the woman provided an inconsistent story, he said. She was also breathing heavily, DiLauri added. The driver of a car that was right behind hers also gave inconsistent responses, he reported.
Suspecting they were there to pick up his suspect, DiLauri pretended to drive off.
The vehicles split up, so the officer followed the one that headed back toward the Shell station.
As it pulled in, Gentles came running from a nearby backyard, DiLauri said.
Seeing the police car, he instantly doubled back toward the front of the home and made a beeline for the gas station, the officer reported.
Ignoring commands to stop, Gentles dumped a black Luis Vuitton bag before trying -- and failing -- to hurdle a guard rail behind the station, the police report says.
He hit the ground and DiLauri grabbed him, it says.
Gentles was arrested for DWI after "showing many signs that indicated he was intoxicated," DiLauri wrote in his report.
The suspect's mother later confessed that he'd called her to pick him up, the officer added.
DiLauri retraced Gentle's steps and found the bag, which contained a compact 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol loaded with seven rounds of ammo and "bundles of cash," DiLauri reported.
Dashboard and body cameras recorded the incident, a complaint on file in Superior Court in Hackensack says.
Gentles remained held Tuesday in the Bergen County Jail pending court action on weapons offenses -- including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm -- as well as with resisting, hindering and obstructing his arrest.
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