Independence County Sheriff Shawn Stephens walked into a north Batesville convenience store and restaurant for a noontime lunch this past Friday. He ended up making an arrest.
While there, a member of the store’s team asked the sheriff to take a look at someone passed out in a vehicle sitting in front of the diesel pumps, according to the incident report.
Outside, the sheriff found the driver, Cody Heddey, 29, along with a female, both inside a station wagon, apparently sleeping.
Stephens noted when opening the already partially-open driver’s door, he spotted a plastic baggie containing a “green leafy substance” inside the door’s interior handle. Placing the baggie on the vehicle’s roof, the sheriff continued to try and wake Heddey, the report said.
Finally, with the assistance of some pressure from Stephens on Heddey’s sternum, the sleeping man finally awakened.
The sheriff asked Heddey why they were parked in front of the diesel pumps.
Heddey told Stephens the two were homeless, and they had just fallen asleep.
The sheriff then asked what was inside the bag.
“Weed,” Heddey told Stephens, according to the report.
Sheriff Stephens next asked when was the last time Heddey smoked weed.
“This morning,” Heddey stated to the sheriff.
The sheriff’s fourth question, according to the report, was: If you are homeless, how can you afford to buy weed?
Heddey told Stephens the marijuana “helps him” and would not say how he was getting it.
The sheriff placed Heddey into custody. Heddey was taken to jail and faces four charges: public intoxication, drugs — possession of a Schedule VI illegal drug (marijuana), no proof of liability insurance, and no vehicle license tags.
The female passenger was released, according to the report.
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