A Douglas man remains in the Coffee County Jail after allegedly fleeing from police officers on foot following a traffic stop Saturday night.
A report from the Douglas Police Department describes the incident. According to the report, a police officer noticed a gray Mercedes-Benz traveling west on East Baker Highway with a likely window tint violation. The officer stopped the vehicle at Estes Park Apartments.
The report states that the officer smelled marijuana in the vehicle and asked the driver, Ja’Tavius Deikevioun Bennett, to step outside of the vehicle. Bennett complied and admitted to having marijuana inside the car. Other officers arrived and searched the vehicle. They found marijuana and suspected codeine in the car. The officer who initiated the stop also reported finding a Glock handgun on the ground about 10 feet from the driver’s side window of the car. The gun looked as though it had just been dropped on the ground, the report says.
The officer told Bennett, who was a convicted felon, that he was being arrested. Bennett looked as though he was going to comply, the report states, but then decided to run. He headed west out of the parking lot. The officer contacted a K-9 unit, which arrived shortly. The dog tracked Bennett a short distance before finding him laying down in the woods near the railroad tracks on the east side of town.
Bennett was arrested and transported to the Coffee County Jail on a variety of charges, including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, obstruction, and possession of a Schedule II Controlled Substance.