Bridgeton traffic stop leads to chase, crash, gun and drug seizure

Bridgeton police say a May 1 traffic stop in the Amity Heights Apartment Complex quickly turned into a foot pursuit, a wreck and a gun recovery, underscoring how street-level narcotics and firearm enforcement has become part of late-night police work in city neighborhoods.

Members of the Bridgeton Police Street Crimes Unit and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle around 11:41 p.m. When the driver got out and ran, police said the vehicle rolled into a dumpster at the apartment complex. Officers then saw the driver with a handgun as he fled, and police said he discarded the weapon and suspected crack cocaine before he was taken into custody.

The recovered gun was described as defaced and fitted with a high-capacity magazine and tracer rounds. Those details point to a weapon set up for more than ordinary possession, and they help explain why a traffic stop became a wider public safety incident in a residential complex where families live, park and move through the property at all hours.

Police did not immediately release the driver’s name or charges, and the vehicle was towed pending a criminal search warrant. The case also showed the way local agencies are working together when a stop goes sideways, with Bridgeton street-crimes investigators and county sheriff’s personnel all involved in the arrest.

The Amity Heights address has been on police radar in another serious case as well. On May 3, Bridgeton officers responded to 130 Pamphylia Ave. for a reported home invasion and later identified the suspect as Derrick Howard, 31, of Bridgeton. Police said Howard allegedly brandished a firearm, removed items from an apartment and fled on foot before being taken into custody.

Taken together, the two calls point to a broader enforcement pattern in the same apartment complex: late-night stops, armed suspects and fast-moving police responses in a densely populated setting. For Bridgeton and Cumberland County officials, the message is not just that one driver ran from a traffic stop, but that guns and suspected street drugs continue to surface in the same residential corridors where neighbors are trying to go about ordinary life.