An Ocala man was arrested after trying to swallow marijuana after a traffic stop for exceeding the speed limit on Sunday.
At around 9:07 p.m., a Marion County sheriff’s deputy observed a maroon colored, ragtop Mustang traveling eastbound in about the 5100 block of SE Maricamp Road at a high rate of speed, according to an arrest report. The deputy confirmed the driver’s speed to be 75 miles per hour in a 50 mph zone, the report stated. The deputy then turned around on the vehicle to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle continued driving at normal speeds, failing to stop. After activating sirens, the vehicle then drove across the westbound lanes of Maricamp and came to a stop, facing the wrong direction on the edge of the road.
The driver of the vehicle, 28-year-old Reginald Latrell Butler, opened his vehicle’s door, and the deputy directed him out of the vehicle and placed him in handcuffs. The deputy smelled an odor of fresh marijuana emitting off of Butler. Upon looking in Butler’s mouth, the deputy saw numerous pieces of what appeared to be marijuana on Butler’s tongue, in the back of his mouth and caked to his teeth. Butler spontaneously uttered, “I had a blunt.”
The deputy collected the suspected marijuana from Butler’s mouth, which field tested as positive. Butler advised that he had swallowed a “blunt” that was less than an inch long because he did not wish to go to jail for it, the report stated.
He was transported to Marion County Jail. Bond was set at $2,000.