By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
An Atmore woman, apparently under the influence of illicit drugs, was jailed for the second time in less than three months on felony drug possession charges after she fought with and spit on city police officers who investigated a report that she was acting strangely.
According to police reports, officers responded February 1 to a Jack Springs Road address after a call from a person who said a relative of his, later identified as 44-year-old Mandy Hodges Lassiter, “was acting strange and may be under the influence of narcotics.”
The local woman, who was arrested for possession of methamphetamine on November 17, has a history of being combative and aggressive with first responders, so the officers talked with her and were assured it was safe for medics to enter the residence.
However, when medics and police entered the residence, Lassiter became combative and inadvertently presented officers with the evidence that led to her arrest on the drug charges.
“During the interaction with the officers, Miss Lassiter threw a clear glass jar at one of the officers that struck him in the chest. The jar contained a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine,” explained APD Sgt. Darrell McMann. “Lassiter then threw a grenade-shaped bottle with plastic tubes attached to it that struck the same officer. That bottle had a liquid in it that field-tested positive for cocaine.”
Official reports show that Lassiter also threw a shampoo bottle at the officer but missed him. That bottle apparently didn’t contain any drugs.
When the lawman attempted to detain the irate woman, she began pulling away from him. More officers arrived, and police forced her to the floor, gained control of her and tried to put handcuffs on her. That only deepened her rage.
She bit one of the officers on his hand, grabbed another officer’s arm and began twisting the skin, causing a minor injury, then twice spit in an officer’s face, forcing police to put a “spit mask” on her.
Still, as EMS personnel tried to evaluate her, Lassiter “began racially taunting one of the medics.”
She was taken to Atmore Community Hospital, but police said she refused to cooperate with the medical staff and was released to APD custody.
Lassiter was booked into the Escambia County Detention Center on two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia, third-degree assault, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, and assault with bodily fluids.
Jail records show she was released on bond a few hours after her arrest.