Police: Double-Parked Car In Brooklyn Had Compartment Full Of Drugs, Weaponry, Cash
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A team of NYPD officers who were only coming to put a ticket on a double-parked car in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn ended up finding that it had a secret compartment full of drugs, gash and weapons, police said Friday.
The alleged driver of the car was arrested and charged, police said.
Around 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, the plainclothes officers from the 62nd Precinct were on anti-crime patrol at 71st Street and 19th Avenue in Brooklyn, when they spotted a man running toward a 2006 green Honda Odyssey that was double-parked, police said.
The officers came up to the car to leave a ticket on it, but the driver sped off, police said. The officers then pulled over the vehicle in their unmarked squad car, and smelled marijuana as they walked up, police said.
When they looked inside the vehicle, the officers saw a burning marijuana cigar in the center console, police said.
The driver was arrested, and officers found three Ziploc bags of crack cocaine in his pocket when they searched him, police said. The suspect and the vehicle were taken to the 62nd Precinct police station for processing, police said.
Officers searched the vehicle, and found a strange piece of plastic in the center console, police said. With the vehicle not running, they discovered a vibrating sound emanating from the loose piece of plastic, and they shone their a flashlight on it, police said.
They saw several plastic bags behind the loose piece of plastic, and upon receiving a warrant for a further search, they found the plastic sheet hid a hollowed-out area full of an assortment of illegal items, police said.
In the compartment were two cellphones, money, one Ziploc bag of marijuana, 410 glassines of heroin, 131 Ziploc bags of crack cocaine, a .45-caliber Llama semiautomatic handgun with four rounds of hollow-point ammunition and two rounds of regular .45-caliber ammunition, a magazine for the gun, and $977 in cash, police said.
Arrested was Steven Lopez, 23, of Staten Island, police said.
He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, marijuana, and a controlled substance with intent to cell.
Capt. William Taylor, Sgt. Jeremy Berson and officers Thomas Citera, Christopher Santiago, and John Wygand were behind the arrest.