Paul Bass Photo
Bitang the police pooch followed the scent of a gun to the top of a Sherman Avenue garage — and helped cops make the case against a man they’d been chasing.
The action took place around 5:45 p.m. Thursday.
Here’s what happened, according to city spokesman Adam Joseph.
It all started with a seat belt.
Or, more precisely, a seat belt that a 23-year-old city man wasn’t wearing as he drove around town. The police traffic unit stopped him to cite him for that offense.
The driver stopped, too. Then he drove away, southbound on Sherman Avenue. Police followed. He “bailed from the vehicle at the corner of Sherman Avenue and Elm Street.”
Police followed. And they noticed him throwing something away that he’d had in his waistband.
The man tried to jump a fence on Maple Street. The cops caught him. They found eight bags of crack on him.
And they called for the help of Bitang, a police dog that’s been catching a lot of guns lately. Bitang sniffed around. He indicated that the gun was up on the roof a garage. And the cops found it there: a loaded Double Eagle Combat Commander .45 ACP.
The arrested man did not have a permit for that gun. So he ended up arrested for charges ranging from carrying a pistol without a permit, to various narcotics offenses, to reckless driving and “engaging officers in pursuit.”
And, of course, not wearing a seat belt.
Bitang and his buddy, Officer Renee Forte.