By Pat Culverhouse
Two Minden city police patrol officers had a busy evening tour of duty Thursday, making a pair of separate drug arrests less than an hour apart.
Officers Ben Sparks and Kendale Booker made their first arrest just after 9 p.m. when a suspect attempted to flee after he was stopped for questioning on Walnut St. Chief of Police Jared McIver said 52-year-old Reggie Wayne Eason was apprehended after a brief foot chase.
“Our officers observed the suspect throw something from his pocket during the chase. A search of the area uncovered a plastic item with suspected crack rock inside,” McIver said. “Although the ground was wet due to rain, the item was dry.”
Eason was booked on charges of possession of CDS Sch. II (crack cocaine) with intent to distribute, possession of CDS Sch. I (marijuana), resisting an officer and a misdemeanor traffic offense.
He is currently being held in Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center under bonds totaling $4,502.
Illegal drugs found on pedestrian
A short time later, Sparks and Booker stopped a pedestrian on Joel St. for questioning and after receiving consent to conduct a search, found illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia on his person.
McIver said 50-year-old Samuel Earl Elkins, a resident of the 100 block of Martin Luther King Dr., is charged with possession of CDS Sch. II (methamphetamine), possession of drug paraphernalia and a misdemeanor traffic offense.
“After getting consent, the officers found a glass pipe commonly used for narcotic consumption in the suspect’s backpack,” McIver said. “When they were searching his person, the suspect dropped a clear bag containing suspected methamphetamines.”
Elkins reportedly is being held at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center under a $3,502 bond on the three charges.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
