A security guard in New Jersey was charged with possessing illegal ammunition and unlawfully carrying a firearm despite having the required permits for security guards in the state.
Roosevelt Twyne, 25, was arrested after being stopped by Roselle Park Police as he drove home from work in early February on suspicion of having tinted windows on his car.
During the traffic stop, Twyne said he informed police he had a firearm and ammunition in the car. He provided police with his permits to carry the weapon, including a specialty permit for security guards in the state.
“I informed him I’m just now coming home from work,” Twyne said during an interview Monday on Fox & Friends. “I live a block away, I’m right there. He told me to step out of the vehicle, and I complied to everything he asked me to do … and just got arrested from there.”
Police charged Twyne with illegally transporting his firearm and possession of hollow-tip ammunition, his lawyer Evan Nappen said.
Nappen said the hollow-tip ammunition is allowed to be carried by security guards and is protected by the state’s Security Officer Registration Act.
Twyne is an officially licensed armored car security guard in northern New Jersey.
Roselle Park Police contend Twyne was not “in compliance with the specifications of the law pertaining to the lawful transport of his firearms,” according to a statement they provided to Fox News.
Police Chief Daniel McCaffery did not immediately return a request for comment.
Nappen said he believed race might have been a factor in why Twyne, who is African American, was pulled over.
“It’s dubious,” Nappen told the Washington Examiner. “Here he is, he’s driving home from work, he’s wearing a hoodie. It was white officers who pulled him over. It could give the appearance of something.”
New Jersey has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.
Twyne’s case is due to be heard in New Jersey Superior Court next month.
An online legal defense fund for Twyne has raised more than $50,000.
