Speeding Leesburg driver attempts to throw out illicit pipe moments before traffic stop

A Leesburg man was arrested for trying to throw a pipe used for smoking narcotics out of his car window before being stopped for speeding.

An officer observed the driver of a white Nissan, later identified as 54-year-old Douglas Brown, traveling westbound on Southeast Highway 42 on Monday evening, according to an arrest report from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. 

While the vehicle was obeying the 55-mph speed limit, it did not leave the lane closest to the officer’s patrol vehicle as he cleared a traffic stop, nor did it slow down to 20 mph below the posted speed limit. The officer thus conducted a traffic stop on the Nissan, the report said. 

Upon approaching the vehicle on the front right passenger’s side, the officer noticed a used broken glass smoking device with brown residue on the front right passenger’s floorboard. There were also glass shards on the floorboard around the pipe and sitting on the front right passenger’s door near the window, the report said. 

The officer believed the smoking device was used to smoke narcotics and asked Brown about it. He advised that he found the pipe earlier on the ground. He believed it was used to smoke meth, and he tried to throw it out the window when he was getting pulled over, the report said. 

A search of the vehicle was conducted, and the officer recovered the pipe. From Brown’s position, he would have been able to reach the pipe. Additionally, the residue inside the pipe tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said. 

Brown initially advised the pipe belonged to his friend who left it in the vehicle. He later claimed ownership of the pipe and stated it belonged to him. He also admitted the pipe was used to smoke methamphetamine. He had seen the officer’s patrol vehicle getting closer to him and believed that he was going to get pulled over, so he tried to throw it out of the vehicle, the report said. 

The Scotland native was subsequently arrested for tampering with evidence and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was transported to the Marion County Jail to be held without bond because he was released on bond for the charges of possession of methamphetamine and resist officer without violence in a separate Lake County case.