Officers find crack, marijuana in two separate incidents
Published 7:00 am Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Officers working two separate incidents found crack cocaine in one, and some marijuana in the other.
As a Picayune police officer was patrolling the area of Goodyear Boulevard on June 18, he noticed a man walking along the sidewalk drinking a beer, prompting him to turn around and make contact with him, said Assistant Chief Jeremy Magri.
The officer caught up with the man, identified as 43-year-old Michael Magee of 1630 Nixon St., on Forest Street and asked him about the open beer, later placing him under arrest for the charge of open beer, Magri said.
During a search of Magee’s person the officer located a plastic bag in his baseball cap containing what appeared to be crack cocaine, leading Magee to be additionally charged with felony possession of a controlled substance.
A separate incident occurred on June 2, just after noon, where an officer conducted a traffic stop for careless driving.
Magri said as the officer spoke with the driver, identified as 21-year-old Michael Pickett of 312 North Monroe Ave., he could smell the odor of burnt marijuana coming from the vehicle.
The officer requested Pickett’s driver’s license and proof of insurance, at which time Pickett began talking on his cell phone instead of complying with the officer’s requests, Magri said.
After a number of orders were refused by Pickett to hang up the phone, the officer ordered Pickett to step out of his vehicle, Magri said.
As the officer attempted to conduct a safety pat down of Pickett, the suspect began to push off the vehicle toward the officer. Magri said the officer ordered Pickett to cease the action, which Pickett continued to ignore, leading him to be charged with disorderly conduct failure to comply.
A subsequent search of Pickett’s vehicle located a cup in the center console containing a green leafy substance believed to be marijuana along with more suspected marijuana on the driver’s seat where Pickett was sitting, Magri said.
Pickett was additionally charged with possession of marijuana in a motor vehicle, no proof of insurance and careless driving, Magri said.