A traffic stop over an unlit license plate ended with a Choudrant man facing DWI and drug charges late Wednesday, according to an arrest affidavit.
Michael Cole Fredericks, 28, was arrested by a Lincoln Parish Sheriff’s deputy at 11:05 p.m. Sept. 23 on Louisiana Highway 33 at Louisiana Highway 822.
The deputy was on patrol when he saw a northbound vehicle with no light on its license plate. After pulling in behind it, the deputy watched the vehicle cross onto the center line twice and made a traffic stop.
Fredericks was breathing rapidly and shallowly, sweating heavily and unable to sit still. He told the deputy he was having a panic attack, and the deputy called Ruston Ambulance Service.
The deputy smelled alcohol coming from inside the vehicle and, after Fredericks stepped out, from Fredericks himself. Fredericks said he had drunk one beer. The deputy saw an open container of beer and an open container of a mixed liquor drink in plain view.
Asked about weapons, Fredericks said he had a pocketknife and brass knuckles. The deputy removed brass knuckles from his front left pocket, and tangled up with them was a clear plastic bag of suspected marijuana. No knife was found.
Fredericks admitted smoking methamphetamine about an hour and a half before the stop and also admitted smoking marijuana. He agreed to a search of the vehicle, which turned up another bag of suspected marijuana on the driver’s side floorboard.
Because of his condition, field sobriety tests could not be done. Fredericks chose to go to the hospital when the ambulance arrived. At North Louisiana Medical Center, he refused a chemical test, and the deputy obtained a search warrant for a blood sample.
After his release from the hospital, Fredericks was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on charges of first-offense DWI, possession of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, open container, improper lane usage and no license plate light.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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