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Officer Grant Novak spotted the vehicle in the parking garage across from the AMC Starplex 12 theaters off Challenger Road just after 8 p.m. Sunday and found Jean-Claude Santini of Syosset, a Union City High School teacher, reaching into the console, Lt. Joseph Rella said.
The officer also spotted a bag of marijuana, Rella said.
Ignoring Novak’s commands, Santini got out, pushed the officer and tried to flee before Novak subdued him after a brief struggle, the lieutenant said.
The girl ran off but was found nearby, Rella added.
A search of the car turned up the pot, sex toys and hatchet, he said.
Santini – who had 11 outstanding warrants out of Union City over the past five years -- was charged with drug possession, resisting arrest, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and illegal weapons possession, among other counts.
He was sent to the Bergen County Jail – and was ordered released by a judge less than 24 hour later under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
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