DUBOIS – Drug charges have been filed against a DuBois man for allegedly possessing crystal meth.
Eric Allen Clinton, 25, was charged by Pennsylvania State Police Nov. 30 with a felony count of manufacture/deliver/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, misdemeanor counts of intentional possession of a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana and 18 counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is also charged with resisting arrest, fleeing or attempting to elude police and traffic summaries.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Nov. 14 troopers were on routine patrol when they initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle Clinton was driving that had a LED light bar illuminated on its front bumper.
After the trooper activated his emergency lights, the vehicle accelerated. When the roadway ended at a camp, the vehicle spun around and attempted to come back toward the police car. The trooper blocked the road with his vehicle. Clinton backed up his vehicle in an attempt to flee.
At this point, one of the troopers exited his vehicle and drew his firearm. He instructed the operator to stop his vehicle and exit. The driver failed to comply and rolled his driver’s side window up, police said.
The vehicle moved several times forward and back in an attempt to get around the patrol vehicle. The second trooper exited the vehicle and instructed the driver, later identified as Clinton, to shut his truck off and exit it.
He failed to comply again, according to the complaint. The trooper used his baton to remove the driver’s window that was tinted and concealed the actions of the driver. Clinton was told again to exit the vehicle and he refused.
The two troopers opened the driver’s side door and removed him. Once outside, he allegedly resisted and made an attempt to flee on foot. The troopers were able to subdue him as they took him to the ground to be handcuffed. Clinton continued to resist.
When he was searched, police say they found a plastic bag of marijuana, two pills, a marijuana smoking pipe, a cell phone, a wallet with $335 in it and $337 in cash in his pockets.
After he was placed in the back of the patrol vehicle, he again attempted to flee on foot while handcuffed, police said. He was taken to the ground again and put back into the back seat.
He explained to them he ran because he had a probation warrant out of Jefferson County. When asked if there was anything in the truck the troopers needed to know about, he admitted to having a backpack that contained methamphetamine.
The backpack allegedly contained 14 grams of crystal meth along with drug paraphernalia, plastic bags and two cell phones. Another cell phone was found in the cigarette lighter of the truck.
When he was questioned about the drugs, Clinton told police he had just purchased the meth and was going to repackage it to sell to his friends. He said he ran because he didn’t want to go back to jail. He is currently housed in the Jefferson County Jail. No preliminary hearing has been scheduled yet for this new case.