MOUNT HOLLY SPRINGS, Cumberland County — New York terror suspect Sayfullo Saipov was stopped by Mount Holly Springs police in 2015 for violations on the tractor trailer he owned, according to police chief Thomas Day.
Day said Saipov, 29, was cited for the violations and paid $514.50 in fines. He was stopped for having an over-length vehicle, for lighting violations and for having his axles pulled all the way back, Day said.
Saipov had a New Jersey driver’s license at the time.
Day said the traffic stop wasn’t unusual — hundreds of rigs are stopped each year in the Cumberland County community.
But the chief said that the fact that Saipov owned his own rig was odd.
“I don’t know what his finances were to afford a tractor trailer of own coming into this county in 2010,” Day said. “Most people have to have to work a while to afford a vehicle like that.”
Day said the officer who made the stop does not remember the incident, which is not unusual. Day’s department makes hundreds of stops on tractor trailers each year. An estimated 15,000 vehicles pass through Mount Holly Springs daily, and about 20 to 25 percent of those vehicles are commercial traffic.
Day said that last year, his department cited 160 truck drivers for over-length vehicles. Day said he inspected 180 trucks, and his other officers probably inspected more than 250.
Day said he was contacted by investigators after Tuesday’s incident.
“I don’t know if the word surprise would be there — disgusted, maybe, with the events that have been happening across this country,” Day said. “I guess it could happen in any community.”
