A traffic stop in North Little Rock turned up 109 grams of Ecstasy and methamphetamine Thursday after a driver running from police threw two plastic bags containing the drugs into the Arkansas River, a police spokesman said.
North Little Rock police spokesman Sgt. Amy Cooper said officers attempted to make a traffic stop at 10:50 a.m. Thursday near Arkansas 161 and Interstate 40, but Michael Lawrence Scales, the 39-year-old driver, fled.
Officers pursued Scales onto the Interstate 30 westbound Arkansas River bridge, where Scales threw the two bags over the side of the bridge and into the river, Cooper said in a news release.
Officers blocked the path of Scales and his passenger, Robert Lee Battles, 33, near the Cantrell Road exit and arrested them without incident, an arrest report said.
North Little Rock Fire Department officials aided police in recovering the tossed bags, which contained 22 grams of methamphetamine and 87 grams of Ecstasy, the release said. Officers said in an arrest report that the drugs were packaged for selling or distribution.
Both men were charged with possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver, possession of a Schedule I drug with purpose to deliver and tampering with physical evidence, the release said. Scales was also charged with fleeing from police.
Battles and Scales were in the Pulaski County jail with no bail set as of Thursday evening.
Report says branch wielded in attack
A North Little Rock man attacked a man with a tree branch Wednesday after accusing him of selling fake drugs, an arrest report said.
Harold Nave Jr., 57, used a tree branch to strike a man in the head and hands multiple times near 312 W. Pershing Blvd., the report said. North Little Rock police officers said the victim was bleeding from his head and had injuries on his hand.
The victim told officers that his attacker was wearing a red jumpsuit and glasses, and officers found Nave in the area in similar clothing, the report said. Nave said he attacked the man in self-defense when the man pulled a knife, but witnesses corroborated the victim's story and no knife was found in the area, police said.
Nave was in the Pulaski County jail in lieu of a $5,000 bond as of Thursday evening, facing a charge of second-degree battery, according to the jail's roster.
Metro on 12/07/2018