68°
K9 Officer Piotr Pogorzelski saw the speeding northbound 2005 Nissan Maxima hit one barrier, roll back across the curbed median and hit another barrier approaching Marshall Street Tuesday night, Passaic County Sheriff Richard H. Berdnik said.
Pogorzelski rushed to the car to check for injuries, spoke to the driver and smelled alcohol on his breath, the sheriff said.
The driver, 43-year-old ex-con Torron Brown of Newark, got out of the car and was unsteady on his feet, Berdnik said. The officer also noted an open bottle of booze in the car, along with the heroin envelopes, he said.
Given the location and incline of the ramp, Brown was immediately taken into custody rather than be directed to complete a field sobriety test, the sheriff said.
Brown -- who was wanted on a trio of warrants -- later failed a sobriety test and registered .15 BAC on a breath test, he said.
Sheriff's officers charged him with DWI in a school zone, drug posssession,
driving on the suspended list and a host of traffic violations.
He was brought to the Passaic County Jail, where authorities from Essex County were to pick him up on the warrants.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Paterson and receive free news updates.
