Bainbridge Public Safety made multiple arrests for possession of hard drugs this weekend, including cocaine, crack cocaine and meth.

On Friday, June 1, officer Jason Myers got a call from investigator Mark Esquivel at 7:34 p.m. that the driver of a gray car heading toward him on Cemetery Street had just purchased narcotics.

When Myers saw the gray Toyota Camry, he began to follow next to it. Myers turned on his lights and initiated a traffic stop when the car drifted partially into his lane. The driver, Ruby Ingram, was asked if she had anything illegal, to which she said no, but did admit to drinking half a beer. Myers searched the vehicle and found an open half-empty beer can that was still cold.

Myers also found a suspected crack cocaine rock near the beer. Ingram was arrested for failure to maintain lane, open container and possession of crack cocaine.

The next night, June 2, officer Jamie Marshburn pulled over a black Inifinit with an expired tag in the parking lot of Roy’s Package Store around 2:30 p.m. Marshburn asked for the license and found it was expired.

The driver, Malcolm Ritter, complied with Marshburn and asked if he could finish his cigarette, to which Marshburn agreed. As he smoked, Marshburn reported Ritter becoming “fidgety” and looking side to side. When he reached for Ritter’s wrist, Ritter bolted toward the package store.

Ritter ran down the street behind The Winery where he fell into a ditch that was six to eight feet deep and covered in kudzu. Marshburn reported only being able to see Ritter’s head in the heavy foliage. Eventually, Ritter became so tangled in the vines that he wasn’t able to escape. Waiting at the top of the hill, Marshburn told him to come back because he couldn’t get away, and Ritter complied.

Ritter was placed under arrest and his vehicle was searched. Stuffed inside a cigarette pack, Marshburn found a baggy filled with suspected marijuana and another baggy containing small crystalized rock that he suspected to be meth. Ritter said none of it belonged to him.

After being transferred to Memorial Hospital for treatment to minor injuries, Ritter admitted to Marshburn he had used meth about 45 minutes before getting pulled over. He said the marijuana was his, but again insisted he knew nothing about the meth. He was arrested and charged with obstruction of law enforcement, expired tag, driving while license suspended, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and possession of meth.

On Sunday, June 3, around 9 p.m., officer Christopher Prindle was quickly cut off by a driver on Shotwell Street without the use of a blinker. As he spoke to the driver, Kenji Lerone Simetone, he could smell the scent of alcohol on their breath and the faint smell of burnt marijuana. He also saw several beer cans in the rear floorboard of the car.

With the help of Marshburn, Prindle performed sobriety tests on Simetone and placed him under arrest. The passenger, Elizabeth Faust, was also handcuffed and placed under arrest. Inside the vehicle, officers found a package containing a substance they believed to be cocaine, a straw for ingesting it and two partially burnt blunts.