SC police find duo asleep in drive-thru. What was in one’s lap made cop pull out gun

Two men were asleep in a car at an Orangeburg McDonald’s drive-thru when they were awoke by a police officer pointing a gun at them.

The Times and Democrat’s Martha Rose Brown reported on the Thursday fast-food incident.

Police found Ricardo Donta Brown and a driver in the vehicle around 5 a.m., The Times and Democrat reported. A person had called Orangeburg Department of Public Safety to report the two men sleeping in the car at the restaurant’s drive-thru. When officers arrived the driver’s side window was down. One officer said he saw a gun in Brown’s lap.

“I observed in plain view an AK-47 pistol with a magazine inserted” the officer wrote in a report, adding that Brown’s hand was on the grip of the gun, according to The Times and Democrat. As the men slept, officers held them at gun point and opened the doors of the vehicle, waking up the men inside. They appeared “startled and confused,” the officer said.

While holding them at gun point, an officer secured the gun from Brown, according to the report. Officers determined that the AK-47 had a loaded round in the chamber with 29 rounds in the attached magazine.

Officers said they smelled alcohol and saw a half empty bottle of peach Ciroc Vodka in the vehicle.

The driver, a 32-year-old man unnamed by the Times and Democrat, was arrested for having an open container of alcohol and public disorderly conduct. Brown was arrested for weapon charges. Both were booked at the Orangeburg County Detention Center.

While being booked, detention officers say they found crack cocaine in Brown’s pocket. He was charged with possession.

This story was originally published December 29, 2018 at 12:30 PM.