Crime & Safety

1 Pickup Truck, 4 Teenagers, 62.1 Grams of Marijuana

That's more than a little pot -- close to 2.2 ounces -- discovered in a blue pickup truck after an officer stopped it for a faulty brake light, police said.

A Darien 17-year-old was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell after a police officer stopped a pickup truck with four teenage boys in it, police said.

Police, who found almost 2.2 ounces of marijuana in the vehicle, did not release the ages of the other three Darien teenagers or the name of any of the teenagers. A department spokesman said they were all juveniles (that is, under 18 years old) and very close in age to the 17-year-old.

Darien police gave this account (an accusation not proven in court) of the incident:

At about 7 p.m. on Saturday, a police officer driving south on Hollow Tree Ridge Road saw a blue pickup truck driving in the same direction. One brake light was not working, so the officer stopped the truck just after it turned onto West Avenue.

When the officer spoke with the teenagers in the truck, he could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the pickup cab. The driver told police that he had about 1.5 ounces of marijuana with him, and two other occupants said they had smoked some marijuana.

Another police officer arrived at the scene. The fourth occupant of the vehicle didn't admit to anything. He was told to leave the vehicle, and it was immediately apparent that he was under the influence of some kind of drug.

A search of the pickup truck turned up a medicine bottle in the center console with several buds of suspected marijuana later weighed at 1.4 grams. Also found in the vehicle were a marijuana grinder, cigarette rolling papers, two scales and, under the passenger-side front seat, several large plastic bags.

One of the bags had a 38.3 grams of suspected marijuana. Another had 22.4 grams of it. The total amount of pot in the car was 62.1 grams, or 2.19 ounces.

The 17-year-old driver said all the marijuana was his. In addition to a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to sell he was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to have a brake light.

Two of the teenagers were released to their parents at the scene. A third was released to a 24-year-old brother at the scene (which typically happens when parents can't be contacted immediately).

The 17-year-old went to police headquarters and was later released to his parents on a promise to appear March 11 in Stamford Juvenile Court.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.