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North Arlington PD: Dozing Driver Had Loaded Handgun, Drugs For Sale

NORTH ARLINGTON, N.J. – A driver found passed out behind the wheel of a truck parked outside a North Arlington diner had a loaded handgun in his pocket and various drugs – including cocaine and Xanax – stashed in the console, authorities said.

Arlington Diner

Arlington Diner

Photo Credit: GoogleMaps

Officers responding to a 2 a.m. call Wednesday that a man had been asleep or unconscious in a GMC Denali outside the Arlington Diner for about an hour found 22-year-old Ramel A. Harrison of Orange out cold inside, Police Chief John Hearn said.

It took several attempts to wake Harrison, after which an officer “observed what appeared to be the handle of a handgun” sticking out of his pocket, Hearn said.

The officers ordered Harrison to put his hands on the steering wheel and not move – after which one of them seized the Bersa Thunder 380 DLX .380-caliber pistol, which was loaded with hollow-point bullets, the chief said.

They later discovered it was reported stolen out of Pennsylvania, he said.

“Also located in plain view inside the vehicle was a container with 48 Xanax pills not in a prescription bottle,” he said.

A Bergen County sheriff's K-9 unit summoned by police alerted them to the vehicle’s center console – where Hearn said his officers found a space containing a zip-locking bag with 73 vials of cocaine, as well as a dozen bags of pot.

A judge ordered Harrison held in the Bergen County Jail pending a bail hearing on various drug and weapons charges, as well as possession of stolen property.

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