POLICE: CHOKING MAN COUGHED UP COCAINE PACKETS
March 3, 2005
As police officers brought Terrance Haynes into the Sixth Precinct in Coram Tuesday night on a charge of marijuana possession, he had trouble speaking, then breathing. Then, Haynes turned blue. Police gave him the Heimlich maneuver. "Then out pops the bag," said Lt. Robert VanZeyl, of the Suffolk Police Department. The bag was a plastic baggy that contained 11 little paper packets of cocaine, with each probably containing a half-ounce to an ounce of the drug, police said.
The officers may have saved the suspect's life, but in doing so, they may have increased his possible time behind bars from 3 months in jail to 25 years in prison.In addition to the initial charge of criminal possession of marijuana, a class B-misdemeanor which carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail, Haynes, 36, a resident of Coram, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony, punishable by up to 25 years, if convicted.
Haynes was first arrested when police saw him sitting in his car in the Coram Homestead Village apartment complex, where police suspected he might have been involved in trying to sell drugs to a bicyclist. When police approached Haynes about 11:15 p.m., they saw a small quantity of marijuana in the car. The bicyclist had no drugs on him and was not charged, police said. When Haynes was surprised by police, "He probably tried to hide it [the cocaine] in his mouth and spit it out when the cops weren't looking," VanZeyl said. But the baggy apparently got lodged in his throat, and was blocking his airway, VanZeyl said. If Haynes had accidentally swallowed that amount of drugs, "It could be potentially fatal," he said.
Police took Haynes to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, where he was examined, found to be uninjured and released back into police custody. Haynes has served prison time in the past for drug convictions. He is being held on $50,000 bond.
It's too bad this guy didn't either choke and die or drop dead of cocaine poisoning; one less pusher on the street. Now you know why my flavors were Gasoline and Death. Blehhhhh!
**Just Because You Have The Right To Do Something Does Not Mean That It's The Right Thing To Do**