A 22-year-old driver stopped by a police officer for not having a front license plate was found with marijuana, drug paraphernalia and an illegal 10-inch hunting knife, Darien police said.
Police gave this description of what happened, including accusations not proven in court:
At about 6:14 p.m. on Wednesday, June 14, a police officer on patrol saw a white 2015 Honda Civic without a front license plate and stopped the vehicle near the intersection of Old Kings Highway North and Brookside Road.
The driver, a Bridgeport resident, said the license plate had fallen off and he hadn’t replaced it yet. When talking with him, the officer smelled burnt marijuana and asked the driver whether he had it in the car.
The driver gave the officer a small bottle with marijuana in it, along with a smoking device. Darien police dog Argo was called in to search the car and found more pot.
As police looked through the vehicle, they found a fixed-blade hunting knife with a 10-inch blade, which is illegal under state law that limits blade lengths to four inches for knives on a personor in a vehicle.
Police tested the marijuana, resulting in a “presumptively positive” result (meaning that it’s possible that further testing later could show it actually isn’t pot).
The man was charged with possessing an illegal weapon in a motor vehicle, possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was later released on a $500 bond and is scheduled to appear Monday, June 26 in state Superior Court in Stamford.
Darien police investigated 13 motor vehicle accidents in the seven days up to Monday, June 19.