BEDFORD – A Bedford woman was detained on Tuesday, May 28th after Bedford Police Officer Landon Jones stopped her vehicle on Mitchell Road.
According to a probable cause affidavit, at 8:57 p.m. Officer Jones was on patrol traveling south on Mitchell Road and was approaching 30th Street when he observed a burgundy Jeep approaching his patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed. The driver of the Jeep then abruptly braked and performed a U-turn in the middle of Mitchell Road. Officer Jones turned around and located the Jeep on 30th Street at the intersection of Washington Avenue.
The driver made a right turn on Washington Avenue and failed to use the turn signal. Officer Jones initiated a traffic stop. The driver came to a stop at 29th Street and Washington Avenue.
The driver was 65-year-old Lorinda Houtchings.
Officer Jones said Houtchings’ speech was slurred and her movements slow. She was asked if she was on any medications and she admitted to being a diabetic.
Sgt. Toby Gerkin arrived to assist and found a THC vape pen in Houtchings’ Jeep on the passenger seat. During a search of the vehicle, police found a baggie of marijuana, a black scale, and a second THC vape pen in the center console.
Houtchings admitted the one vape pen and the bag of marijuana were hers but denied the scales and the second vape pen were hers.
An IU LifeLine ambulance was called to the scene to evaluate Houtchings because she had Type II Diabetes. She refused to be transported to the hospital.
Houtchings was issued a summons to appear in court on charges of possession of marijuana in Lawrence County Superior Court II on July 1 at 8:30 a.m. and was released from the scene.
