A town officer conducting surveillance on a Nashville home arrested a Bittersweet Road man on drug possession charges.
At about 10 p.m. June 17, Nashville Police Officer Evan Painter was in a marked police vehicle, watching the home on North Jefferson Street which he “knew from previous incidents to be involved in narcotic use,” he reported in a probable cause affidavit.
Painter followed a white Jeep which left the home. He stopped it in the 2700 block of Greasy Creek Road when the driver made a turn without signalling after driving 50 in a 30 mph zone, his report said.
The driver, James Law, 41, was issued a warning for speeding. Before Painter and Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy William Pool released him, they asked if they could search his vehicle. Law hesitated, but gave consent, the police report said.
While Painter searched the vehicle, Pool asked Law if he could pat him down to check for weapons. Law consented. The officer asked if he had anything sharp on him and Law felt his right pants pocket, then said no, the police report said. Painter wrote that this made officers suspicious of what was in the pocket.
In Law’s left pants pocket, Pool found a pocketknife. Law eventually confessed to having “speed” in his right pocket, the report said. Pool found what he believed to be methamphetamine in that pocket, the report said. He was taken to jail.
Law did not admit to being anywhere else that night except a gas station, Painter’s report said. Painter visited Law’s jail cell to ask if he was willing to talk about where he got the drugs, but Law refused to talk, the report said.
Law was charged on June 18 with possession of methamphetamine, a Level 6 felony.
