Youngstown cops nab man in car with gun and drugs

YOUNGSTOWN

Bond was set at $45,000 today in municipal court for a Brookline Avenue man arrested Saturday with a loaded .45-caliber handgun in a car he was driving.

Eddie Pierce III, 26, was arraigned before Judge Renee DiSalvo on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of drugs, possession of cocaine, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and tampering with evidence. He spent the weekend in the Mahoning County jail.

Reports said officers pulled over a car Pierce was driving about 2:10 p.m. Saturday at South Avenue and the Interstate 680 south ramp for an improper turn. Pierce appeared nervous and his car smelled of marijuana, reports said.

Reports said police found a bag in Pierce’s pants when they searched him. He gave police bags of what later turned out to be fentanyl, marijuana and cocaine that were in his pants — but he was ripping them apart as he did so.

Once he was in a cruiser, he told police he had more bags in his pants and police found a torn bag of cocaine, reports said.

The gun was found in the glove compartment when police searched the car.