Loud music leads to arrest on felony drug charge

Loud music reportedly coming from a car stereo resulted in the arrest of a local man on felony and misdemeanor drug charges early Thursday.

Lewellis Elijah Coleman, 50, who lists a Linwood Street address, was taken into custody shortly after 1:30 a.m. and charged with a felony count of possession of a controlled substance, meth, punishable by up to six years in prison, a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia and a citation for loud and disturbing noises.

Coleman, who lists no prior felony history, also had a warrant for misdemeanor failure to appear. He was being held on a $3,500 bond and was set to appear Friday in Garland County District Court.

According to the probable cause affidavit, around 1:30 a.m., Hot Springs police Cpl. Zach Brown was on patrol in the 100 block of Greenwood Avenue when he reportedly heard loud music coming from the area of the 500 block of Linwood, which was about two blocks away from his location.

He drove over to that area and made contact with a man, later identified as Coleman, who was sitting in a vehicle playing music that was "extremely loud from more than 25 feet from the vehicle."

A computer check revealed the failure to appear warrant so Coleman was taken into custody and he reportedly made a spontaneous comment that he had "a meth pipe" in his pocket.

Coleman was searched and a clear glass smoking pipe was found which had meth residue. In his other pocket, Brown allegedly found a small plastic baggie that contained 0.9 grams of what later tested positive for meth.

CAM