A Tennessee man who feared arrest was taken into custody early Sunday after he hid in the trunk of a vehicle stopped by Arkansas authorities, police said.
A Jonesboro police officer spotted a car leaving a local motel sometime after midnight Saturday, according to a police report. The vehicle drove toward the officer in his lane, and he eventually pulled it over, the report said.
Two women from Memphis were inside, 20-year-old Keeunshay Blaine and 26-year-old Melquita Frison, police said.
Additional officers arrived and began to sweep the vehicle for drugs. One of those officers then opened the trunk and "hollered out in surprise" when he saw 29-year-old Marqui Hope in the cargo area, the report said.
Hope, also of Memphis, reportedly told police he climbed inside the trunk when he saw the blue lights come on because he thought he had an arrest warrant out of Tennessee.
After police searched the vehicle and found items commonly used to sniff drugs, Blaine, Frison and Hope were charged with possessing an instrument of a crime and possession of drug paraphernalia, the report said.
All three were taken to the Craighead County jail. They were no longer listed as inmates there Tuesday afternoon.
