A 27-year-old Orange man, described by police as a major narcotics distributor along one of the city's main thoroughfares, has been arrested on drug and weapon charges, authorities announced yesterday.

Police Director Charles Cobbertt identified the suspect as Jesse James Carter, an unemployed resident who lives in a Lincoln Avenue apartment building a few blocks from police headquarters.

Carter was nabbed 7:45 p.m. Wednesday at Central Playground on Lincoln and Central avenues, while "pushing drugs right across the street" from both Orange Middle School and adjoining Orange High School, Cobbertt said.

The suspect, a long-time "major drug dealer along Central Avenue," had 73 vials of cocaine and a .38-caliber gun when taken into custody, he noted.

Cobbertt said police charged Carter with possession of cocaine, possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute it, possession of cocaine withn 1,000 feet of a school possession of a handgun, possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, resisting arrest and discarding evidence.

The latter two charges, the director continued, resulted when Carter tried to flee from Detectives Steven Crumpton, Michael Gannon and Ronald Rogers.

Carter, "convicted of numerous drug offenses," was jailed in the lockup pending an arraignment today before Judge Freddie Polhill, Cobbertt said.

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“Reach Back with One Hand and Pull Someone Else Up With You.”

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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