Man faces trafficking charge after pot found in car

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police said they found six bags of suspected marijuana inside the car of a man they pulled over about 2:10 p.m. Sunday for running a stop sign.

Darrin Mitchell, 42, of Lexington Avenue, was arraigned Monday in municipal court before Magistrate Anthony Sertick on felony charges of trafficking in drugs and possession of cocaine and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and obstructing official business.

Magistrate Sertick set his bond at $10,000.

Reports said Mitchell was driving a car that ran a stop sign at Redondo Road and Belmont Avenue. Reports said the officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana and asked for permission to search his car, to which Mitchell agreed.

In a book bag, police found a mason jar that had six bags of suspected marijuana inside and a marijuana grinder and digital scale, reports said. When police tried to handcuff Mitchell because he was being taken into custody, he pushed an officer away and ran until he was tackled.

Mitchell tried to get up and run away but police eventually were able to get him handcuffed, reports said.

Police searched the rest of the car and found two bags of suspected crack cocaine and $200 cash.

Mitchell is on probation after an April 2015 arrest on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Reports said police were called to Hammaker Street on a report that a man wearing a black vest and red hat was walking around with a gun.

When a cruiser arrived, the officer saw a man later identified as Mitchell in a parked car wearing the same kind of clothes, so officers stopped and questioned and searched the man.

Reports said an officer searching Mitchell felt a hard object in his vest pocket and took a .45-caliber handgun out of his vest.

Mitchell pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to probation in June 2015.