Suspect rolls cop’s arm in window, turns minor arrest into felony
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
The following felony arrests were reported by officers of the Atmore Police Department (APD) during the period April 1-3:
Miller McCaster
The Atmore man, 37, was arrested April 3 on numerous charges, including assault on a police officer and felony pot possession, after an APD officer recognized him as the subject of a misdemeanor warrant and pulled his car over as it traveled along Crow Street.
The officer spotted McCaster and conducted the traffic stop around 1:15 p.m. after confirming that he was still wanted for reckless endangerment.
Reports show that McCaster refused to get out of his vehicle when asked several times to do so. When the city lawman reached through the open window to unlock it and take McCaster into custody, McCaster raised the window, trapping the officer’s arm.
The officer realized that he would be in serious jeopardy if McCaster decided to drive away and decided to break the window. The suspect was removed from the vehicle and after a brief struggle was placed under arrest.
The officer suffered cuts to his arm from the window glass. He was treated at Atmore Community Hospital and released.
A search of the vehicle turned up a misdemeanor amount of marijuana, but a criminal history check revealed that McCaster has two prior convictions for second-degree possession of marijuana, and the charge was upgraded to a felony.
McCaster was processed into the Escambia County Detention Center (ECDC) on one count each of second-degree assault, first-degree possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and obstructing government operations. He was no longer on the facility’s inmate roster on Monday, April 7.
APD Sgt. Darrell McMann said if McCaster had complied with the original order to exit his vehicle, he would have been taken to Atmore Municipal Jail, where he would have been processed. He would have been given a bond of less than $50 and a court date, then released.
Sara Andrews
The 46-year-old Mobile County woman was arrested April 1 on felony drug possession charges after a vehicle in which she was a passenger was pulled over when the driver failed to maintain his or her lane of travel.
The traffic stop occurred around 7:10 a.m., and the reporting officer noted “suspicious behavior” as he talked with Andrews, who is a resident of Eight Mile, and the unidentified driver. The officer was given consent to search the vehicle and discovered a small amount of a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine and an unspecified quantity of Suboxone (which is used to help treat opioid addiction), as well as items that are used to ingest narcotics.
Andrews, aware she was wanted by the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office for third-degree theft of property and third-degree possession of a forged instrument, provided police with a false name.
She remained in the ECDC early Monday, April 7, held on two counts of possession of a controlled substance, and one count each of possession of drug paraphernalia and giving false identification to a law enforcement officer.
Jarvarous Lett
The Monroe County man, 28, was jailed April 3 after employees of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen reported that he was passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle, which was in the restaurant’s drive-through lane.
Police responded around 5:15 p.m., and the first-arriving officer “observed the vehicle stopped in the road behind McDonald’s, next door to Popeyes.” The officer talked with the driver, Lett, and “noted that he appeared to be under the influence, and the odor of marijuana was coming from the vehicle.”
The officer became further concerned when he realized that a five-month-old infant was also in the vehicle.
Lett was administered standard field sobriety tests but did not show any signs of impairment, reports show. A probable cause search of the vehicle led to the discovery of “several dozen grams of marijuana, several hydrocodone pills, and items that are used to package narcotics.”
Lett was arrested on one count each of possession of a controlled substance, first-degree possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
An additional charge of chemical endangerment of a child is pending results of analysis by the state crime lab of “other unknown substances in the vehicle in close proximity to the child.” The infant was picked up by a family member, police reported.
Lett was no longer on the ECDC inmate roster Monday morning, April 7.
Diterrious Crenshaw
The 31-year-old Atmore man was arrested April 3, six days after a weapon was discovered in his vehicle during a March 28 traffic stop.
The vehicle Crenshaw was driving was pulled over around 4 p.m. on Maxwell Street because it had no license plate. A K9 unit responded to the stop and alerted on the vehicle, and a probable cause search was conducted.
No illegal substances were found in the vehicle, although there was “a lingering aroma of marijuana, indicating the previous use of marijuana in the vehicle.”
Police did, however, discover a firearm in the vehicle. When a criminal history check was conducted, officers discovered that Crenshaw had a prior arrest for domestic violence but were unable to access the disposition of the case against him.
They seized the firearm and turned the case over to investigators, who determined that Crenshaw had been convicted of the charge and had been prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.
An arrest warrant was obtained charging him with being a certain person forbidden to possess a firearm, which is a Class C felony. He was booked into the county jail April 3 and has since been released.