Here's What a Traffic Stop for Tinted Windows Turned up in Darien

It was only a way to defend himself in the Bridgeport neighborhood he lives in, the 30-year-old driver told a Darien police officer at a traffic stop on Hoyt Street last week, according to police.

What the driver, Sheridan Webb, was referring to was a Walther PPS semi-automatic pistol in the console next to the driver's seat — with one round in the chamber and seven more in the magazine, police said.

Here's the account (an accusation not proven in court) given by Darien police of the incident:

At about 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17, a police officer on Hoyt Street saw a blue, 2003 Pontiac Grand Am traveling south on Hoyt Street.

The car's windows were tinted, which can be a violation of the law unless the tinting job is inspected. State law allows tinted windows, but only to a certain degree.

The officer, who couldn't see through the windows, stopped the cobalt blue car to see if the tint inspection sticker was on the window. It wasn't.

The police officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle, so the officer searched the car and found 7.7 grams (less than half an ounce) of pot.

The fully loaded 9mm handgun was also found in the car. The gun was in the center console, between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat.

Webb's license to drive a motor vehicle had been suspended, the officer also found.

Webb, of Sedgwick Avenue in Bridgeport, was charged with illegally having a weapon in a motor vehicle, possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana, operation of a motor vehicle with a suspended license, failure to return a suspended license and failure to have a tint inspection sticker on a tinted window.

He was released on a $600 bond and is scheduled to appear June 27 in state Superior Court in Stamford.