Car avoids safety checkpoint, but ends up with one passenger arrested for narcotics

On September 30, 2018, at 4:18 pm, a Picayune Police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle near the intersection of North Beech Street and Highway 43 North on a blue Nissan Maxima for avoiding a safety checkpoint at North Beech Street and Westchester Drive according to Assistant Police Chief Jeremy Magri.

Magri said that when the officer approached the vehicle and spoke to the driver, the officer detected a strong odor of Marijuana emitting from the vehicle. The officer asked the driver to exit the vehicle and he then spoke to the front seat passenger, identified as Ernest Joseph Bailey, age 50, 1201 Kingsway Drive, Apt 15, Picayune, and asked him to exit the vehicle also.

As the officer was conducting a pat-down on Bailey for officer safety, he detected a small lump in the left front pocket of Bailey’s pants according to Magri. The officer recovered a clear plastic bag containing several multi-colored pills stamped with several different designs believed to be Ecstasy, a Schedule I narcotic.

Bailey was taken into custody for Possession of a Controlled Substance (felony), transported to the Criminal Justice Center, booked, and incarcerated.