BEDFORD – A Mitchell man was arrested Thursday after a Bedford Police officer pulled his vehicle over just after 5 p.m.
The officer was running stationary radar on State Road 37 near Brock Lane when he observed a red Jeep Cherokee traveling north on State Road 37 at a high rate of speed.
The Jeep’s speed was 74 miles per hour in a posted 55 mph zone. The driver of the vehicle was observed “aggressively changing lanes without out signaling”
The driver was “recklessly weaving around vehicles at high speeds and nearly struck a black truck that was in the left-hand lane traveling north on State Road 37 just north of the 5th Street intersection”.
The officer initiated a traffic stop.
The Jeep came to a stop north of Salt Creek Bridge and almost struck the guard rail.
When the officer spoke to the driver 48-year-old Craig Hout he noticed an odor of burnt marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.
Hout informed the officer he did not have a license and apologized. He then admitted there was marijuana in the vehicle. He told the officer he had just finished smoking “a few minutes ago”.
The officer asked Hout to step out of the vehicle and Hout informed the officer there was marijuana in his pocket.
The officer then learned Hout was driving on a suspended driver’s license.
Hout failed three standardized field sobriety tests.
The officer also found a glass smoking device in the driver’s door compartment.
Hout was transported to IU Health Bedford Hospital for a blood draw. Those results are pending.
Hout’s vehicle was towed by Stone City Collision.
Houte was arrested on charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction, OWI with endangerment, OWI controlled substance, possession of marijuana, reckless driving, and driving while driver’s license suspended with a prior conviction.
