When a woman on a bicycle was being questioned by police, she dropped a small plastic bag that contained a white substance. An officer said she ignored an order to not touch it and instead, scooped it up and swallowed it.

Marsadie Jo Lewis, 27, of Clay City, was arrested by Linton Police Sgt. Logan Hobbs in the wee hours of Monday, June 3.

Sgt. Hobbs was dispatched to an area in the 500 block of 1st Street NE in Linton around 12:22 a.m. on Monday to check on a suspicious female on a bicycle.

When Sgt. Hobbs located the woman, later identified as Lewis, she was leaned over her bicycle in the roadway near the intersection of F and 2nd Streets NE.

Sgt. Hobbs said he saw a broken glass smoking device on the ground that appeared to have fallen out of her pocket and when he asked her about it, she allegedly said it was her “grass pipe” and that she smokes marijuana out of it.

When he asked her for her identification, she began looking through a backpack she was carrying. Hobbs, using his flashlight in an attempt to help her locate her ID, then saw another smoking device in the backpack and asked if she had any marijuana in the backpack. She allegedly said she thought she had a small amount.

What happened next is best told in the words of Sgt. Hobbs who wrote in the probable cause affidavit, “Lewis also had a small, pink container in her shirt pocket on her chest. I asked what was in the container, and she opened it to show that there was a folded Holiday World ticket. Lewis said there was nothing in the folds of the ticket and began unfolding it, and a small plastic baggie containing a white substance fell onto the ground.”

He continued, “I ordered Lewis to not touch the bag, and she rapidly went to grab it. I grabbed Lewis’ wrist and again told her to not touch the bag. Lewis pulled her wrist from my grasp in order to consume the entire plastic baggie to include the substance and the bag.”

Sgt. Hobbs reported he took Lewis to the ground so her face was facing the grass and he ordered her to spit the bag out. But she had already swallowed it. Hobbs reported Lewis then began vomiting on the ground, but the bag was not recovered.

Hobbs called for an ambulance to take her to the hospital because she had just ingested an unknown amount of controlled substances. Hobbs rode with her in the ambulance and waited at the hospital until she was medically cleared, then transported her to the Greene County Jail.

Meanwhile, LPD Officer Orry Phipps, who had arrived on the scene to assist, located a small amount of marijuana in the backpack.

When Lewis appeared in Greene Superior Court on Wednesday for her initial hearing, she was charged with:

Possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor,
Possession of paraphernalia, a Class C misdemeanor, and
Resisting law enforcement – knowingly or intentionally forcibly resists, a Class A misdemeanor.

As of Friday, June 7, Lewis had not yet posted bond and remained in jail. Her bond is set at $1,500 surety with ten percent cash allowed.

No additional information was released regarding the status of the baggie.