Ex-Con Stopped On Route 17 With Comatose Woman, Loaded Gun, Half-Pound Crack In Car: Paramus PD

A Vermont ex-con had an unconscious woman in his back seat and a loaded gun, nearly a half-pound of cocaine and dozens of Ecstasy pills in his car when he tried to run from a traffic stop on northbound Route 17, Paramus police said.

Floyd Artis / INSET: Danielle Fletcher
Photo Credit: *PARAMUS PD*

Jerry DeMarco

02/07/2022 5:43 p.m.

Floyd Artis, 33, of Rutland, VT was grabbed by Officers Cesar Hurtado and Kevin Grady after he tried to make a break for it during the stop at Powers Drive shortly after 1 a.m., Sunday, Feb. 6, Police Chief Kenneth R. Ehrenberg said.

Artis had first tried to rouse Danielle Fletcher, 37, also of Rutland, who was nodded out in the back seat of the 2013 Kia sedan, Ehrenberg said.

In full view in front was a crack pipe, he said.

Artis was charged with drug and weapons charges, including being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm – a fully-loaded 9mm Makarov pistol, records show. He was also charged with resisting arrest.

Fletcher, who was heavily drugged, was treated at New Bridge Medical Center before being booked at police headquarters on drug charges, the chief said.

Both were being held in the Bergen County Jail pending first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

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