Driver found asleep at wheel with loaded firearm tucked under waistband: police

A loaded gun seized during an investigation in York Region on Jan. 1 is shown. (York Regional Police)

A Brampton man who is subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition is facing a number of charges after police say that they found him asleep at the wheel with a loaded gun tucked into the waistband of his pants in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

York Regional Police say that officers were initially called to the Rutherford Road and Jane Street area for reports of a driver asleep at the wheel of a vehicle that was stopped in a turning lane on Jan. 1.

Once officers arrived on scene, police say that they found a male driver “passed out behind the wheel.”

The officers then positioned their cruisers so the vehicle could not be driven away, police say.

“When officers were eventually able to wake the driver, he put the vehicle in drive and struck one of the cruisers,” police said in a news release. “Upon search of the vehicle, police located an open bottle of alcohol on the passenger seat. As they searched the driver, they found a loaded handgun in the waistband of his pants.”

Police have identified the accused as 23-year-old Christian Marius Kamukuny. He is facing a number of firearm and drug-related charges.

Police say that at the time of his arrest, Kamukuny was subject to a lifetime firearms prohibition.

Kamukuny’s arrest came just six hours after another unrelated incident, in which York police seized a loaded firearm following the search of a vehicle that was stopped at a RIDE spot check near Highway 7 West and Bowes Road.

Police have said that they believe that firearm is a “ghost gun” manufactured using a 3D printer.

A total of three people are facing charges in connection with that unrelated incident.