Officer Timothy Convery and Detective Carlos Gill were crossing the bridge from River Street to Haledon Avenue shortly before 10:30 p.m. Sunday when a Jeep Grand Cherokee approached them from the opposite direction with a headlight out, Sheriff Richard Bernik said.
After pulling over for them on Straight Street, Marquise Maxey, 33, stepped out into the street, ignoring orders to get back into the Jeep, Berdnik said.
Maxey "began reaching into his back pocket" and Convery immediately ordered him to show his hands, the sheriff said.
Maxey took off on foot toward Fulton Street, pulling drugs from his pocket and tossing them as he ran, he said.
At one point, Maxey tossed a bag over a fence as he turned onto Fulton Street, Berdnik said.
His pursuers grabbed him moments later, the sheriff said.
Maxey was carrying three bundles of heroin stamped “Wildcats” in red ink in his front right pocket and $168 in suspected drug cash in his back pocket, Berdnik said.
Convery went back and collected a medium-sized plastic baggie on the sidewalk containing 10 heroin folds stamped “Instagram” in blue ink, nine small zip-locking bag of crack and three unmarked heroin folds, he said.
Responding K-9 units helped find a plastic bag tossed over the Fulton Street fence behind two stacks of wooden boxes, Berdnik said.
Inside was a small amount of marijuana in baggies stamped “Moneybag Runtz," 34 Ecstasy pills, 14 Oxycodone pills and a bundle of heroin also stamped "Wildcats," he said.
Maxey was sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a detention hearing on 15 drug-related possession and distribution charges, as well as resisting arrest. He also received several summonses, including for driving an unregistered vehicle while suspended.
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