PATERSON -- A plainclothes officer recorded searching the rear compartment of a minivan without consent claims he did so because he believed the vehicle was a "potential threat" to the community.

The report provides additional detail as to why Detective John Tolerico of the Passaic County Sheriff's Office was caught searching the unlocked vehicle on July 13.

Tolerico filed his report a day after the incident, the same day the video went viral.

Tolerico wrote that he investigated a tip that two handguns were being passed around a group of people near Union Avenue and Jasper Street in Paterson.

When officers initially drove through the area, they saw about 15 men, with several people walking around the blue minivan that was later searched. Several people were questioned and a search of the area for the guns came up empty, he wrote.

Tolerico wrote that he noticed that the van, which remained parked on the street, was unlocked and its rear windows were open, which struck him as "unusual in a high crime area."

"Due to several people, including children walking passed it, I deemed it to be a potential threat to the community," Tolerico wrote.

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The detective wrote that he tried to peer through the windows to see inside the car, but that the windows were too dark. He went around to the rear and opened the hatch, which was unlocked, he wrote.

"I opened it to determine for community caretaking if any weapons or people were hidden inside the vehicle," he said.

He gave a "quick cursory search" for people or weapons "in plain view," found nothing and closed the hatch, he wrote.

"At this point in time" a man approached him, Tolerico wrote.

In the video, the man walks up to Tolerico, who is wearing gloves and a badge around his neck, as he is searching the rear of a vehicle.

The man asks the officer why he's searching his van, and Tolerico quickly backs out and closes the trunk door and begins walking toward other officers.

"We've been getting a lot of complaints" about guns, Tolerico tells the man. When the man asks the officer how he got in his car, Tolerico responds, "it was open."

The man continues filming as he asks for Tolerico's badge number before walking over to the police cars parked nearby to get their license plates.

The man filmed for about 20 minutes, Tolerico wrote. The clip that went viral lasted only about two minutes.

In the report, police note that the car's owner was not the man filming the video.

Two men detained during the investigation that day were taken in on arrest warrants.

A spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff's Office referred questions Wednesday about the incident to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office.

Reached Wednesday, the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office issued the same statement it released weeks ago.

"At this time, we can neither confirm nor deny any investigation conducted by the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office in relation to this matter," said Mary Catherine Ryan, chief assistant prosecutor.

Sara Jerde may be reached at sjerde@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SaraJerde.