A Paterson police drone operator spotted a man waving a handgun at the scene of a motor-vehicle crash early Sunday, setting off a foot chase that ended with officers recovering a loaded 9mm pistol and placing the man under arrest. Police say he discarded the weapon while trying to run from them, and he now faces charges of terroristic threats and weapons possession.
According to News12 New Jersey, officers responding to the crash were alerted by the drone operator that a man was waving a handgun toward a vehicle involved in the accident. The outlet reports the incident occurred around 3:15 a.m., though RLS Media placed the timing closer to 3:09 a.m. on Angela Lane, where a vehicle had crashed into a fence. RLS Media's account adds that the drone caught sight of a man exiting the crashed vehicle with what appeared to be a handgun.
From there, the man tried to run. Per the News12 report, police caught up to him, and he discarded the loaded 9mm handgun during the chase before officers took him into custody and recovered the weapon. RLS Media similarly reported that patrol officers detained the individual and recovered a handgun during their investigation, though at the time of that outlet's report, authorities had not released the man's identity or confirmed whether charges had been filed.
Charges Filed, Ammunition Count Disclosed
The man was ultimately charged with terroristic threats and weapons possession, the station's report states. A department Instagram post cited in that coverage indicated the handgun contained nine rounds of ammunition. The Paterson Police Department did not identify the suspect in its public announcement, per the same account.
Part of a Broader Drone Push
The incident lands amid a wider expansion of Paterson's aerial surveillance capabilities. The department expanded its drone program and opened a new Real-Time Operations Center earlier this year designed to support emergency response and incident management, according to Government Fleet. That expansion took the technology beyond the department's Emergency Response Team, making drones available to multiple units for search-and-rescue operations, emergency response, tactical deployments, crash investigations, and crime-scene documentation, Government Fleet reported.
This is not the first time a Paterson police drone has turned a routine call into an arrest. In a separate case, drone footage captured a foot pursuit that ended with the arrest of individuals accused of committing motor-vehicle burglaries in Paterson, according to Shore News Network. In that instance, the department's social media post did not identify those arrested or specify the charges, location, or date of the pursuit, the outlet noted.
