44°
Amsell Osorio-Fuentes, 23, remained held in the Bergen County Jail following his arrest on drug and weapons charges shortly after 2:30 a.m. Thursday, records show.
It began when Sgt. John Andronaco spotted a 2012 Ford Focus with heavily tinted windows and an expired temporary registration in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at the corner of Main and Liberty streets, Police Chief James Walters said.
Andronaco stopped the car after Osorio-Fuentes made an illegal left out of the parking lot, the chief said.
Osorio-Fuentes “appeared overly nervous,” Walters said, adding that his hands were shaking and he was breathing heavily.
The sergeant smelled raw pot from inside the car as Osorio-Fuentes gave him a temporary registration card that didn’t produce a computer match, the chief said.
The jittery Osorio-Fuentes told Andronaco and backup Officer Michael Lee that he was “just tired and returning from work,” Walters said.
Asked three times whether he had a weapon in the car, Osorio-Fuentes repeatedly said no before admitting that he had a gun behind the passenger seat because “he had been in Philadelphia and was worried about what was currently happening there,” the chief said.
Philadelphia has endured a week of unrest following the shooting death of a city man who authorities said came at police with a knife. ATMs and subway kiosks have been blown up, looting has spread and a van was discovered with explosives inside.
Osorio-Fuentes consented to a search of his car that Walters said turned up a 9mm Glock 48 with a fully loaded magazine in a holster behind the front passenger seat, along with some pot.
He was arrested, processed and sent to the county lockup to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
Brookside Towing removed and impounded the vehicle.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Highland Lakes-Vernon and receive free news updates.
