A 39-year-old Festus man was arrested in Arnold after he was found in an SUV that appeared to have blood on the passenger side. The man also reportedly had a physical altercation with two Arnold Police officers before the arrest, authorities reported.
At about 7 p.m. Nov. 9, Arnold Police got a call about a suspicious white SUV in the parking lot at the Arnold Crossroads Center. When officers located the GMC Yukon parked outside a building under renovation, they found the man alone in the passenger seat, and they saw what looked like blood on the SUV, the report said.
The man reportedly told the officers he didn’t know anything about blood on the vehicle. He also allegedly said he didn’t have any identification and refused to tell the officers his name, according to the report.
The officers asked the man to get out of the SUV, but he reportedly refused, so one of the officers opened the passenger’s side door in an attempt to get the man out. The suspect allegedly fought with the officer and crawled toward the driver side of the SUV and tried to get back inside the vehicle, according to the report.
The man had what looked like knives on his belt, and the officers continued to struggle with the suspect. Eventually, one of the officers used a stun gun to try to subdue the man, but he reportedly did not stop resisting, and during the struggle he and one of the officers fell, the report said.
While the man and officer were on the ground, the other officer used his stun gun on the man again, and the two officers were able to subdue the suspect and arrest him. No injuries were reported from the physical altercation, according to the report.
A police dog was used to search the Yukon, and the dog alerted the officers to the possible presence of drugs. When the officers searched the SUV, they allegedly found a bag containing a white-crystal substance believed to be methamphetamine, three bags of a white-powdery substance, two glass smoking pipes and a package of Suboxone, a medication prescribed to treat opiate addiction, the report said.
An officer searched the man and allegedly found four throwing knives attached to the suspect’s belt, two knives in his pocket and a credit card belonging to a woman. In addition, the man already was wanted by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant for driving without a license, Arnold Police reported.
The man was taken to the Police Station, where he was booked and held for the Sheriff’s Office. Depending on results of the drug analysis, Arnold Police will seek charges against the man through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, felony resisting arrest and second-degree trespassing, Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said.