Winder Police: Woman Who Tossed Marijuana Wanted to Return Her Mother's Car Prior to Arrest

A Stockbridge woman told a Winder police officer she didn't pull over more quickly during a traffic stop because she wanted to get the vehicle she was driving back to her mother. 

The incident occurred about 9:45 p.m. Nov. 13, when the officer observed the woman driving while not wearing a seat belt. Upon initiating a traffic stop, the officer observed a small, clear, plastic baggie being thrown from the window of the vehicle. The officer stopped and retrieved the baggie, which contained a leafy substance that smelled like marijuana, before catching up to the driver.

According to an incident report, the driver turned onto Elk Street and stopped at a residence, where she began to "frantically" honk the horn.

"I did not know what the driver was trying to accomplish so I kept my distance and stayed with my patrol car," the officer wrote in the report. "I radioed dispatch I would be conducting a felony traffic stop and commanded the driver of the suspect vehicle to turn the vehicle off. The driver complied and turned the vehicle off. I verbally commanded the driver to throw the car keys out the window and she complied. I told the driver to put her hands out of the small opening of the window and she complied. I then told dispatch I would be standing by for additional units to complete the take down of the vehicle."

Once the driver was safely removed from the vehicle, handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a patrol car, she told the officer she hadn't stopped sooner because she wished to return the vehicle to her mother. The officer agreed to relinquish custody of the car to the driver's mother, the registered owner, once it was searched. 

The driver, 25-year-old Amanda Megan Clark, of 309 Carrington Ridge in Stockbridge, was charged with seat belt violation, possession of marijuana less than 1 ounce, littering from a motor vehicle and failure to have license on person.

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