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Crime & Safety

Police: Missing Front Plate, Beltless Driver Leads to Drug Arrest

Officers responding to shots fired call reported observing a car speeding away from the area.

Two Special Services street team officers say a car leaving the area of a shots fired call Monday night not displaying a front license plate led to the driver being arrested for possession of marijuana.

Police received a call reporting shots fired in the area of Grandview and Sention avenues shortly before 10 p.m. According to police spokesman Lt. Praveen John, the two street team officers reported they were heading toward the area when they encountered a car approaching them at high speed near the intersection of Benedict Street and Stuart Avenue.

The car did not have a front license plate, they reported.

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John said when they shined a spotlight into the car, they saw two male occupants not wearing seatbelts.

The officers turned around and began following the car, which then sped up, John said. The car turned into a private driveway near the intersection of Truman Street and Hyatt Avenue, and the officers stopped and exited their vehicle.

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The officers saw the driver turned around and reaching into the back seat, John said, and when they approached the vehicle, they detected the smell of burning marijuana.

The driver, later identfied as Dean Shaw, appeared extremely nervous when the officers requested his driver's license, insurance card and registration, shaking and heavily perspiring, John said. He said the officers spotted a green substance sprinkled on the dashboard and floor they identified as marijuana, along with a whiskey bottle between the driver's door and seat, and a police scanner radio.

John said they also observed Shaw try to stuff something into his right pocket.

Both men were ordered out of the car and handcuffed.

John said the officers found a plastic bag bulging out of the Shaw's pocket containing marijuana. Inside the car, he said, they found a digital scale, a large amount of cash, two bags of marijuana and a baseball bat.

Shaw asked to speak with the officers, John said, waiving his right to remain silent. He allegedly told the officers the marijuana and scale were his, and the scanner belonged to a friend.

Shaw, 26, of 7 Selleck St., Stamford, was charged with illegal manufacture, distribution or sale of marijuana, illegal possession of less than four ounces of a cannabis-type substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, having a weapon in a motor vehicle, failure to wear a seatbelt, and failure to display a front license plate.

Shaw was held on $5,000 bond and given a court date of July 10. His passenger was not charged.

Officers dispatched to the shots fired call found no indication a firearm had been discharged.

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