Inside Police Reports: 'You Have Marijuana in Your Pocket'

Why is it that people hanging out around gas stations, convenience stores and parking lots of businesses so frequently seem to be up to no good?

Another case in point:

A officer noticed a man standing alone behind the at the intersection of Stone Mountain Highway and Bethany Church/Killian Hill roads.

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The officer knew at least a couple of things: he had busted the man previously for intent to distribute drugs and the area has seen drug-related activity in the past.

So, the officer decided to check him out.

According to an incident report released by Gwinnett PD, the man, 29, told police that he was waiting for a ride from his girlfriend. The officer asked if he could search the man, given the officer’s knowledge of the man and the area. “Not without a warrant,” the man said.

The officer told the man that was his right to refuse to be searched, but that he was going to conduct a “Terry Pat” to check for weapons. The man was told to stand with his hands on his head.

“When I felt the outside of the right rear pocket of the accused I detected a ‘bulge’ which through my experience felt like marijuana buds,” Officer D. Mitchem wrote in his report. “At the same time, I detected the odor of marijuana coming from the accused.”

The officer then told the man, “You have marijuana in your pocket.”

The officer wrote that the man “pulled away,” prompting the officer to put him in a full nelson and push him onto the hood of the patrol car.

“The accused later stated to me he was not attempting to harm me, just did not want to go to jail,” the officer wrote.

But after he was found with more than an ounce of pot, the man still ended up in the county jail.

Inside Police Reports runs regularly every week. The information is based solely on police incident reports provided on request.