December 20, 2016
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
The long arm of the law was never more obvious than it was recently when an off-duty police officer arrested three Elk City men for possession of drugs.
The three men have all posted bonds and are out of jail awaiting their next court dates.
It all started when an off-duty Elk City police officer was filling up her pickup at a convenience store on the west side of town.
She wrote in her report that she was at pump number 4 facing west and observed a Jeep pull into the store parking lot with all windows down and three males inside. When it passed in front of her, she detected a strong odor of burnt marijuana and says from her training and experience as a police officer, she knew it to be marijuana.
She also wrote that it came to a full stop in front of the doors. The rear passenger, later identified as 22-year-old Louis Rivera-Martinez, jumped out and went into the store. The front passenger, 24-year-old Rafael Rivera-Salinas brought to his mouth a small brown object, believed to be a blunt, most commonly used when smoking marijuana, according to the report.
She allegedly observed Rivera-Salinas exhale a large amount of white smoke and seconds later she allegedly detected an odor of burnt marijuana. Then, Rafael handed the blunt to the driver, 27-year-old Gabriel Rivera-Salinas who put the blunt toward his mouth and allegedly exhaled a large cloud of white smoke.
About that time, Rivera-Martinez came out of the store with a gallon of water in his left hand and got back into the rear seat and the three headed out of the parking lot, east toward town.
The off-duty officer finished filling her tank and jumped into her vehicle following the jeep, calling another officer on her cell phone, an officer on duty, that she was following three men suspected of smoking marijuana.
The report says the officer continued to follow the jeep observing white clouds of smoke coming from the front passenger window.
The Jeep turned north onto Pioneer Road, near the high school and turned into the construction site of the new elementary school in Elk City. There, it stopped and so did the off-duty police officer.
She walked toward the Jeep and observed all the windows rolled down. She pulled out her badge and identified herself as an off-duty, Elk City police officer, extending her badge out in front of them so they all could see it.
She then wrote that all three occupants had a strange look on their faces, so she asked them if they spoke English.
They shook their heads to indicate no, so off-duty police officer Gonzales spoke to them in Spanish, identifying herself and telling them she’d observed them smoking marijuana at the convenience store and then on the roadway. She also told them that an on-duty officer was on her way, officer Gallegos.
In the meantime, they were told to put their hands up so she could see them and to not move. The report adds that she still detected a strong odor of burnt marijuana emitting from the cabin of the Jeep.
Noticing that all of their eyes were blood shot, she asked them if they had marijuana and one allegedly said yes, dropping his hands and reaching for something. He was told to put his hand back up where she could see them and to not move again.
All three were arrested for possession of a controlled substance within 1-thousand feet of a school or park.
The blunt contained a green, leafy substance that tested positive for THC.
The men are all due in Beckham County District Court on February 7 and remain free on $10-thousand dollar bonds.
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