A Bronson man sought for failure to appear in court was arrested after his strange behavior during a traffic stop led police to use a K9 to search for narcotics.
At around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, an officer observed a white pickup truck traveling east on Griffin Road with no headlights, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.
Stephan Davon Johnson, 29, was sitting in the middle front seat of the vehicle when officers initiated a traffic stop. Immediately after noticing the lights and sirens, Johnson started to frantically move around inside the vehicle, the report said.
After the vehicle came to a complete stop, Johnson crawled over the right front passenger and exited the vehicle through the passenger door. He then tried to leave the scene, but officers gave him multiple clear verbal commands to stop, according to the report.
Instead, Johnson tried to reenter the vehicle through the front passenger door window by reaching into the door panel. Officers continued to give Johnson commands until he complied. Johnson was detained due to his abnormal behavior and for officer safety. After receiving Johnson’s name and date of birth, the officers discovered he had an active Lake County warrant for failure to appear, the report said.
A K9 officer walked his dog around the vehicle and advised there was a positive alert to the odor of narcotics inside the vehicle. A search revealed a red plastic bag in the passenger side door containing about 5.1 grams of a substance that later tested positive for cocaine. The bag was inside the door panel where Johnson was reaching while trying to reenter the vehicle, according to the report.
Johnson was charged with possession of cocaine and transported to the Lake County Jail without incident. Bond was set at $4,000.