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Branden Clifton

NEW ORLEANS – NOPD officers arrested a man who nearly sideswiped a marked patrol vehicle after they found marijuana, ecstasy, and a loaded gun in his minivan.

Twenty-nine-year-old Branden Clifton was behind the wheel of a minivan around 1:15 a.m. on November 3 when he began having trouble keeping control of the vehicle.

Clifton abruptly swerved across three lanes of traffic and at the intersection of South Claiborne Avenue and Second Street and narrowly avoided a patrol vehicle.

Detectives pulled Clifton over and immediately noticed a strong odor of marijuana.

Clifton admitted to possessing pot, and the detectives searched the vehicle.

They found a loaded handgun under the driver’s seat, and a bag of marijuana on the rear floorboard.

Clifton also had 27 tablets of ecstasy and one Tramadol pill in his pockets.

He as arrested and booked with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm while in possession of narcotics, as well as possession of marijuana, Ecstasy and Tramadol, according to the NOPD.

Anyone with additional information on this incident is asked to contact Second District detectives at (504) 658-6020.