Traffic stop results in gun and DUI charges against driver
NORRISTOWN » A traffic stop by Abington Township police resulted in a Philadelphia man being convicted of gun and drunken driving charges.
Troy Pearson, 33, of the 6600 block of Crowson Street, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to five to 10 years in a state correctional facility after he pleaded guilty to charges of person not to possess firearms and driving under the influence of a combination of alcohol and drugs in connection with an August 2017 incident in Abington.
Judge Wendy G. Rothstein, who accepted a plea agreement in the matter, said Pearson will be subject to a 12-month license suspension and must forfeit his firearms to the district attorney’s office as a condition of the sentence.
An investigation began about 1:03 a.m. Aug. 15, 2017, when Abington police on patrol along Old York Road observed a northbound Nissan sedan “strike the center median and a street sign” after crossing Old Welsh Road, according to the criminal complaint. Police stopped the vehicle, operated by Pearson, at Old York and Moreland roads, court papers indicate.
“During the traffic stop I detected a faint odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from inside the vehicle. Pearson’s reactions and movements appeared slow. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy,” Abington Police Officer Robert Steck alleged in the criminal complaint.
Another officer arrived at the location as backup and while talking to Pearson observed a black handgun on the driver’s side floorboard within Pearson’s reach, according to the criminal complaint. Pearson was removed from the vehicle, taken into custody and transported to a local hospital for a blood test, court papers indicate.
The subsequent investigation determined that the firearm found in Pearson’s vehicle was reported as stolen from another jurisdiction. Police also alleged that Pearson is a convicted felon, “which prevents him from owning or possessing a firearm.”
Court documents did not reveal the results of the blood analysis.