Crime & Safety

BB Gun in Handbag Gets Woman Arrested

It wasn't the pot that a cop said he smelled, nor was it urinating on the Post Road that resulted in charges in this incident. It was the BB gun.

A car stopped in front of a blinking yellow light late one recent night on the Post Road caused a police officer on patrol to make a U-turn to find out what was going on, police said.

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

The stop resulted in an arrest, although it wasn't on a charge related to the man urinating on the street by the car, which was stopped in a westbound lane of the Post Road at its intersection with Old Kings Highway South.

Nor was there a charge filed for marijuana possession, although the police officer reported smelling marijuana smoke when he approached the 2012 Nissan Sentra and spoke to some of the occupants, of which there were several.

But the officer did look inside the car for evidence that someone in it possessed at least some marijuana. The officer didn't find any -- but that's where the arrest comes in.

According to the police report, the officer saw an open handbag on the back seat.

(A remarkable number of police reports from many different police departments state that officers found illegal drugs or other illegal items in plain view on vehicle seats, dashboards, floors and center consoles, which are then the bases of arrests.)

The handbag contained a bright, shiny object which looked just like a firearm. It turned out to be a BB gun replica of a Walther CP99.

The handbag belonged to Shana Inabinet, 23, of Seaton Road in Stamford. She told police that although it was her handbag, it wasn't her BB gun and she didn't know how it got in the bag.

She was charged with having a weapon in a motor vehicle without a permit to do so. She was initially held on $500 bond, but a bail commissioner later reduced that to a promise to appear in court.

She is scheduled to appear Tuesday, Jan. 7, in state Superior Court in Stamford.

A Darien police spokesman did not know why the man urinating on the Post Road was not charged.


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