Man Chews Police Car Seat After Arrest For Selling Cocaine

A Florida man, already facing drug trafficking and resisting arrest charges, ended up facing additional indictment for chewing the backseat of a patrol car after he was arrested Thursday.

“Melvin Stubbs, 37, from Homestead, Florida, was charged with cocaine trafficking and resisting arrest. He was also charged with property damage for chewing up and/or eating a Sheriff’s office patrol car seat after he was taken into custody,” a blog post run by Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The suspect was initially asked to pull over at a traffic stop near Mile Marker 59, around 10 p.m. EST, after Sgt. Mark Jones and Deputy George Zakariadze noticed the suspect’s white BMW had dark, tinted windows that did not conform to traffic rules. Stubbs cooperated with the police initially after Jones used a tint meter to confirm his suspicion that Stubbs was indeed using extra-dark windows on his car.

When Zakariadze went back to his patrol car to write down a warning for Stubbs, he found out Stubbs also had an outstanding arrest warrant for “violating probation stemming from cocaine sales.”

When the policemen tried to place the suspect under arrest, he tried to flee the scene twice before he was tackled to the ground. Zakariadze also had to use the Taser on him when Stubbs got aggressive in his demeanor. When the police conducted a search of Stubbs’ jacket, which came off while he was resisting arrest, he was found to possess four bags containing white powder.

The white substance was subjected to a field test, which came back positive for cocaine. He was found to possess a total of 41.1 grams (1.4 ounces).

The policemen also struggled to control Stubbs after he was put inside the patrol car. “Stubbs began kicking the passenger side of the patrol car door with his feet. Then, Sgt. Jones noticed a large piece of the back seat of the patrol car that Stubbs had chewed off and/or eaten, causing at least $1,000 in damage,” the blog post said.

The authorities were then forced to put Stubbs in feet restraints, before taking him to Fishermen’s Hospital in Marathon, Florida, where he was put in a wheelchair and “further restrained due to his continued combative behavior.”

After being discharged from hospital, Stubbs was booked into jail and remained there without bond Friday.

While Stubbs was found carrying a few grams of cocaine, there have been cases were drug sellers have been intercepted with far more quantities at traffic stops in the past. On Friday, a man in Canada was found in possession of eight kilograms (17 pounds) of the drug after his vehicle was pulled over on Highway 17 near Dryden, Ontario, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

The street value of the amount of cocaine was found to be 800,000 Canadian dollars ($602,312) and the suspect was charged with possession for purpose of trafficking cocaine.