ARDEN HEIGHTS — A man offered to pay police officers $100 if they freed him after he was arrested for driving without a license and weapons possession, prosecutors said.
Thomas Clemente, 30, tried to bribe them twice — once in the car on the way to the precinct and another time inside the stationhouse — and even took a $100 bill out of his pocket to show them, according to his criminal complaint.
"I just want to go home, here's one hundred dollars," Clemente told officers, according to the complaint. "I'll take care of the other officers when I get home."
Clemente was driving a 2012 Nissan at 11:55 a.m. Saturday when he was pulled over at the corner of Dover Green and Arden Avenue, prosecutors said.
Officers ran a check and saw that his license was suspended for failing to pay a fine. They also found an expandable baton in the driver's side door panel of his car, the complaint said.
"If you guys can make sure I don't make it to the 120 [Precinct], I'll give you one hundred bucks," Clemente told them, according to prosecutors.
His first bribe attempt didn't work, but Clemente tried again while inside the precinct, even taking a bill out of his pocket and putting it on the table, the complaint said.
A spokesman for the Staten Island District Attorney's office did not know why Clemente was taken to the 120th Precinct, as he was arrested in the confines of the 123rd Precinct.
Clemente was charged with bribery, criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle at his arraignment, prosecutors said.
His bail was set at $1,000 for the bribery charge and $1 for the weapons and unlicensed driving charges, according to court records.
His lawyer could not be reached for comment.
