INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis man is facing charges after he was found sleeping in his car in front of a middle school Tuesday morning while he had alcohol, drugs and a gun with him.
According to recently filed court documents, around 7:30 a.m. on April 23, an officer with the Indianapolis Public Schools Police Department was stationed at H L Harshman Middle School, near 10th Street and Woodruff Place West Drive, when he was alerted to a car not moving in front of the school in a no-parking zone.
The car was said to have had an "excessive" amount of smoke coming from it.
The IPS officer approached the car and found a 49-year-old man sitting in the driver's seat and appeared to be unconscious. Court documents describe the man as having his eyes closed and his head tilted downward.
(NOTE: 13News does not name suspects until formal charges are filed by a prosecutor.)
In court documents, the cause of the heavy exhaust smoke was the man having his foot pressed on the accelerator while the car was in park. When the officer knocked on the window to get the man's attention, the man reportedly woke up and removed his foot from the gas pedal.
When asked if he was alright, the man reportedly nodded and said, "mmhmm." The officer looked into the back seat, where he saw a bottle of Tequila with a broken seal.
Officers then noticed the man was in possession of a .45 ACP Hi-Point pistol. Officers removed the gun from the man's left pocket and placed him in handcuffs.
Court documents say the man was struggling to maintain his balance while he was being escorted into the backseat of a police car. The man reportedly asked police if he was being arrested and said he needed to get home so he could take his other son to school.
After running the man's license, police discovered it had been suspended in 2009 and that the registration of his car, a black Mercury Mariner, was listed under his son's name.
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Police then searched the car and found narcotics inside the center console. Court documents say the center console contained bags of marijuana, a white powdery substance, a large bag of rock-like crystals, partial and full pills of different sizes, $10 in cash and a few other empty bags.
Police also found 11 beers in a cooler in the car.
Additionally, police also found a debit card in the car that did not appear to belong to the man.
Court documents say that police also discovered the man had been illegally in the United States for the last 29 years. He is facing preliminary charges of unlawful carrying of a handgun by an alien within 500 feet of school property.
