A Knoxville, Tennessee man who was jailed by Indiana State Police on drug related charges on Monday, Nov. 20, was found to have additional drugs while being processed by jail personnel.
Jackson County Jail Sergeant Josh Clark located a large amount of drugs including cocaine, heroin, crack and ecstasy, on an inmate during the booking process, according to Jail Commander Charlie Murphy.
Shannon Donte Lewis
While Clark was performing a routine clothing exchange and search on Shannon Donte Lewis, 34, of Knoxville, TN, Clark located several bags of drugs hidden on Lewis.
Lewis had been hiding a significant amount of drugs in the front of his underpants.
“Lewis started to run toward a restroom in an attempt to flush the drugs down the toilet. Sergeant Clark quickly deployed his taser on Lewis and it stopped him instantly,” said Murphy. “Lewis began to scream loudly while being tasered which alerted other jail staff to come to Clark’s aid.”
All of the drugs were recovered, Murphy said. In all, there were around 80 grams of drugs recovered worth a street value of about $5,000.
Lewis had been taken to the jail in Brownstown by Indiana State Police after a traffic stop led to his arrest on charges of possession of a controlled substance for drugs troopers located in his vehicle and operating a vehicle while never having received a driver’s license.
Clark has requested for additional felony charges of trafficking, dealing cocaine and dealing heroin, dealing a controlled substance, and misdemeanor charge of resisting law enforcement.
Clark was assisted during the incident by Jail Officer Joe Barnes, Sergeant David Ridlen, Jail Nurse Ed Rutan, Jail Commander Charlie Murphy, and Detective Ben Rudolph.