BELIZE CITY—A man who had a small quantity of crack cocaine and tried to swallow it when he saw the police coming in his direction was charged with possession of a controlled drug and obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty.
Phillip Clark, 39, a laborer of 15 Pickstock Street, pleaded guilty to the two charges when he appeared before Magistrate Herbert Panton this afternoon.
Panton, however, thought the police were wasting time and resources by charging a man for an undetermined amount of a drug, so he dismissed the possession of controlled drug charge against Clark.
For obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty, however, Panton fined Clark $250 plus $5 cost of court, and ordered him to pay by October 15, 2014. If Clark defaults, he will spend two months in prison.
According to police, yesterday, Thursday, August 14, around 7:00 p.m., Constable Jamil Scott was on patrol on Pickstock Street when he saw Clark walking in the area.
The amount was so small that it was ‘unmeasurable’
Constable Scott stopped him and informed him that a search was going to be conducted on him. According to the constable, Clark had pushed two pieces of aluminum foil inside his mouth and attempted to swallow them.
After ordering him to open his mouth, Scott pushed his hand into Clark’s mouth and retrieved one of the pieces of aluminum foil, which contained a white substance consistent with crack cocaine.
An attempt to weigh the piece of crack proved futile; because it was so small its weight could not be determined, so when the charge was made up, an exact weight could not be determined. Hence, Clark was charged with being in “possession of an undetermined amount of controlled drug.”
