A 31-year-old Ocala man was arrested after an officer observed him throwing a cocaine-filled pill bottle over a fence during a traffic stop.
On Friday, November 19 at around 11:30 p.m., an Ocala Police Department officer pulled over a man riding a bicycle near the intersection of NW 1st Street and NW 21st Avenue in Ocala.
The man, later identified as Rashad Al Hassan, was traveling on the left side of the road and his bicycle did not have any mounted lights.
The OPD report indicated that during the traffic stop, Hassan seemed nervous and kept touching his baggy clothing. The officer informed him that a pat down search was going to be conducted.
Hassan turned away form the officer and started walking away. The officer instructed him to stop but the commands were ignored.
After reaching inside a pocket sweater, Hassan was observed throwing an item over a nearby fence on NW 21st Avenue.
The officer used a Taser to bring Hassan down to the ground. When the officer attempted to secure the handcuffs, Hassan tensed his arms and kept pulling his right wrist away.
The handcuffs were eventually secured, and a K-9 partner helped locate a dark colored plastic bag beyond the fence where Hassan had been observed tossing an item. An orange pill bottle was inside the bag, and it contained a white rock-like substance that later field tested positive for cocaine.
Hassan told the officer that he was smoking marijuana and did not want to get caught. He claimed to have thrown a joint over the fence.
The OPD report indicated that Hassan did not smell like marijuana, and the item the officer observed being thrown over the fence was too large to be a single joint. When the officer asked Hassan why he threw cocaine over the fence, he stated, “You know what I was thinking.”
Hassan was arrested and transported to Marion County Jail where he is currently being held on $5,500 bond. He is facing felony charges for possession of a controlled substance and evidence tampering.
A court date has been scheduled on December 21 at 9 a.m., according to jail records.