BEDFORD – On Wednesday, July 26, a black Buick Rainier drew the attention of a police officer in the area of 16th Street and Edgewood Drive.
The officer noticed the driver was not wearing a seatbelt. The officer turned around and activated his emergency lights to pull over the individual. From behind, the officer noted the driver was fidgeting.
Once the vehicle came to a stop, the officer had to yell for the driver to pull forward because where he stopped and forced the officer to block an entire lane of traffic. Once the vehicle moved, the officer was able to identify the driver as William Batchelor.
William proceeded to fidget and apologize, claiming he was depressed and having a bad day. The officer asked William for his driver’s license and registration, and he provided his driver’s license but told the officer that he didn’t have his registration.
Due to William’s erratic behavior and fidgety movements, William was asked to step out of his vehicle. He consented to a search, a boot knife was confiscated, and a backup unit was called.
Sergeant Bade arrived on the scene a short time later and deployed his police dog to do a free air sniff of the vehicle while a ticket was being written for his infractions.
The police dog gave a positive notice of drugs in the car, at which point William told officers that they would find a white powder in the back floorboard, but that it was left there by someone else. Williams admitted that it was meth, and the bag, containing a crystal-like substance, tested positive for meth.
Williams was detained as officers searched his vehicle.
During the search, the following was collected:
- A hard sunglasses case containing meth
- Numerous syringes, some filled with a liquid substance
The officers conducted an inventory of William’s vehicle and it was towed by Mikel’s Wrecker service with no holds. Officer Bell transported William to the Bedford Police Department for processing and then to the Lawrence County Jail.
Once on station, all the evidence was processed and the two bags containing the crystal-like substance were weighed yielding a result of eight grams including packaging.
Batchelor was arrested for possession of methamphetamine between 5 and 10 grams and unlawful possession of a syringe. He was also issued a citation for no seat belt and a written warning for no registration in possession.
