With cops closing in on him at a Hess filling station, an alleged drug dealer stepped on the gas, smashed into a minivan and came to rest on top of a snowbank.
Cops arrested the man and seized 89 packets of heroin, according to police.
Here’s what happened, according to police department spokesman Officer Joe Avery:
At 5:10 p.m. on Monday, members of the Street Interdiction Unit approached a gray 2004 Acura parked at a pump at the Hess gas station at 1331 State St. Police had received a complaint that drugs were being sold from the vehicle.
On seeing the officers, the driver of the Acura hit the gas to try to flee. The car side-swiped a mini-van, which was occupied by a mother and her two kids aged 7 and 11, before becoming lodged on top of a snow bank in the gas station parking lot. The mom and kids were not injured.
Police found 89 small packets of heroin in the Acura. The 23-year-old driver was charged with drug offenses and with risk of injury to a child, reckless driving and reckless endangerment. The drugs have a street value of $1,335. Police also seized $975 from the man.
In other police news, according to Avery:
A man with a machete threatened a Sunoco station attendant on Chapel Street during a dispute over money. At around 4:15 p.m. on Monday, he banged the machete on the window of the station before fleeing.
At 7:09 p.m. on Monday, a man with a gun robbed a liquor store on Forbes Avenue.
At 3:21 a.m. on Saturday a man was robbed by six men with three guns. He told police that he was walking in front of Dixwell Plaza when the men pulled him into an alley. They hit him on the face and took $25, a Sprint cell phone, two sets of keys.
Police used pepper spray to break up a fight outside the Manhattan Bar and Club on Forbes Avenue Sunday morning at 1:48 a.m. Police made one arrest.
Shotgun Shakes Out
While on patrol at around 2 a.m. on Monday, Officer Louis DeCrescenzo saw a car across from 66 Saltonstall Ave. in Fair Haven that had its windshield smashed in. While DeCrescenzo spoke with the driver, Officer Leonardo Soto spotted a revolver in the car’s back seat. Police pulled the driver and a passenger from the car. When the 37-year-old passenger was placed on the ground, a shotgun fell from his coat. The men were arrested on weapons and motor vehicle charges. The driver, a 36-year-old man, also had three outstanding warrants.
For block-by-block year-to-date crime information, plus daily crime maps, check out the Independent’s Crime Log.