Police in Asheville, North Carolina say that a man was driving through town smoking synthetic marijuana. The 50-year-old is now facing charges of driving while impaired and damage to property. The ordeal reportedly began when a police officer spotted a Jeep on U.S. 70 in east Ashville that appeared to have a gas hose dangling from its gas tank, according to law enforcement.
Officers claim that they could see the driver smoking some kind of pipe while traveling. Police apparently decided to conduct a traffic stop of the Jeep. Officers claim that as they approached the Jeep, the driver continued to smoke the pipe in the passenger compartment. Law enforcement claims that a gas can was also in the passenger compartment while the driving took drags on the pipe.
Asheville Police assert that the man had stopped earlier in the day November 27, at an establishment in east Ashville. Police claim that the man bought synthetic marijuana at the establishment and continued on his way. Police believe that the driver began smoking the product in the Jeep, and later stopped at a gas station to fill up the Jeep. Police accuse the man of driving away from the gas station with the gas hose from the pump still dangling from his Jeep.
Asheville Police arrested the driver, a man who is reportedly from Nebo, North Carolina, on suspicion of DWI and criminal damage to property after the encounter. Authorities claim that the man had purchased a large quantity of what law enforcement describes as synthetic marijuana at the east Asheville business earlier in the day.
Source: Mountain Xpress, “APD arrests man with synthetic marijuana for DWI, damage to property,” David Forbes, Nov. 28, 2012
