Three teenagers from Montclair drank vodka and decided to take a ride to McDonald’s, but the driver crashed his Honda Accord into a wall along the way, police said.

Officers found the Accord with front-end damage after it had been crashed into a wall of the train trestle at Brookfield and Valley roads, according to police. By the time officers arrived at 12:35 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, they only found the 17-year-old driver at the scene, since his two 16-year-old passengers had run away.

The driver had the smell of liquor on his breath but denied that he had been drinking. However, when one of his friends came back to the accident site about 15 minutes later, he told police the three teens had been drinking Smirnoff vodka at another boy’s home before getting into the car.

At the house, the location of which police did not disclose, investigators found one partly consumed bottle and another completely empty bottle of vodka in one of the boys’ bedrooms. The father said he had not purchased the liquor, and that he fell asleep while the teenagers were in the room.

The boy who came back to the crash scene was charged with underage consumption of alcohol. The driver was given a summons for being an underage driver with a blood-alcohol content of between .01 and .08 percent. He was also charged with reckless driving and violating the rules of his provisional license. The boy in whose house the trio had been drinking did not respond to officers’ questioning, police said.

The police report did not indicate that anyone was hurt in the accident.

Suspect: ‘Don’t call the police or we’re going to kill you’

Two purse-snatchers stole a 70-year-old woman’s bag as she came home from work, police said.

The victim pulled into her driveway on Forest Street at 9:45 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 4, and walked around to the back entrance of the multifamily dwelling to her apartment door, according to police. As she ascended the stairs, someone grabbed her by the shoulder and took her pocketbook, police said. Inside her purse was about $1,000 in cash.

The woman could only see that the perpetrators were two men who ran across the back yard and through a gate into the rear yard of a North Fullerton Avenue house.

Police said that as the robbers ran, one of them yelled, "We’ve been watching you! Don’t call the police or we’re going to kill you!"

Anyone who could help police apprehend the robbers should call Detective Raymond Gulbin, 973-509-4739.

A man who drank brandy before he fell asleep on someone’s lawn on Nishuane Road was charged with improper behavior at 12:38 a.m. Monday, Sept. 1, police said.

Officers responding to a report of a man down found Norman Granger, 22, of Montclair slumbering in the fetal position on a front lawn, police said. After being awakened, Granger told officers he had been waiting to hop on a bus to get to work when he fell asleep, police indicated. He also mentioned that he had consumed two pints of brandy before he dozed off, authorities said.

When investigators continued asking him questions, Granger became irritable, and said the police were making him nervous and that he wanted to leave, police said.

Officers asked Granger to lower his voice, since he was waking up the neighbors, but he kept yelling and cursing and was taken into custody, according to police. He received a summons for improper behavior and police later drove him home.

• A thief stole the purse of a volunteer working at a local church’s health fair, and the bag contained instructions for the victim’s uncle’s will.

  The East Orange woman placed her black purse on a chair outside Montclair Tabernacle Fellowship, at 61 Elm St., at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, police said. When she went to retrieve it half an hour later, the purse was gone. In addition to the will instructions, the bag contained two cell phones, documents, keys and $20 cash.

• Someone stole a Foodtown bag at a bus stop that contained clothes and the owner’s birth certificate.

  The victim, from Caldwell, was waiting at a bus stop at the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Lackawanna Plaza at 12:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, when he placed the shopping bag on the ground alongside him, police said. While he turned around to check whether the bus was approaching, the bag was taken.

• A black wrought-iron table and two accompanying chairs worth $100 were stolen from in front of the Pat Gail Gallery, 326 North Fullerton Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 2.

• A man who picked up a bag of personal paperwork and magazines that a Midland Avenue resident had set out for recycling collection was arrested and charged with having outstanding warrants, police said.

  Officers stopped Adam Batkay, 37, of Bloomfield as he was walking north on Midland Avenue carrying a large white shopping bag at 2:24 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 1, according to police.

  Batkay said he had taken the bag after a resident placed it out on the curb, police said. Before releasing him, officers ran a warrant check and found he had warrants from Montclair, Clifton, Newark and Montville totaling $4,600 and they arrested him, authorities said.

• Laura Mecca, 27, of Cliffwood Beach, was arrested and charged on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 12:31 a.m. with having a $120 warrant issued out of Montclair, according to police.

  A patrol officer who was randomly typing license plate numbers into his cruiser’s mobile data terminal keyed in the number of Mecca’s car, learned that her driver’s license had been suspended and pulled her over on Valley Road near Lorraine Avenue, police said.

  Mecca was issued a summons for not presenting the officer her insurance card, then arrested and brought to headquarters. She posted bail at 1:30 a.m. and was released.

  — DAN PROCHILO

  "Police news" is compiled by The Montclair Times from information provided by the Montclair Police Department. The information is released to the press at the discretion of the department and may not represent the total scope of police activity. Accounts that indicate charges pending against an individual do not imply guilt or innocence.