PORTERDALE, Ga. – Porterdale police arrested two men and took a stolen gun off the streets after an early morning traffic stop for speeding Thanksgiving Day.
According to a Porterdale Police Department incident report, Sgt. Charles Cook was conducting traffic enforcement in the area of Crowell Road and South Broad Street at approximately 3:13 a.m. Nov. 22 when he observed a silver Hyundai Sonata traveling on Crowell Road at a high rate of speed.
Using his radar, Cook clocked the Hyundai going 56 mph in a 35 mph and followed the vehicle as it turned right onto South Broad Street then onto the Highway 162 Connector before conducting a traffic stop on the vehicle at JJ’s Quick Stop.
Cook wrote in his report he smelled marijuana as he approached the vehicle and made contact with its occupants.
“Once the vehicle came to a stop, I approached it on the driver’s side and learned that it was occupied by two males, Damond Brooks, 19, the driver and Alonza Fleming, 18, the front seat passenger. As I made contact with Mr. Brooks and introduced myself to him I noticed the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.”
According to the report, both Brooks and Fleming produced ID when asked and both came back with no wants when checked. While Cook was completing the speeding ticket for Brooks, Officer Ryan Boston arrived on the scene to provide back-up.
Cook wrote in the report that once he had completed the ticket he went back to the vehicle and smelled marijuana again. He asked Brooks to step out of the vehicle.
“When I regained contact with Mr. Brooks I asked him to step out of his vehicle and to the rear of it due to smelling marijuana a second time. Mr. Brooks stepped out of the vehicle and to the rear of it. While Mr. Brooks was doing this I heard Officer Boston ask Fleming what he was shoving under the passenger seat.”
Cook asked Brooks if there was any marijuana in the vehicle and Brooks reportedly said there was not. According to the report, Cook searched Brooks and asked him to empty his pockets then asked him to stand at the front his patrol unit and Brooks complied.
Cook then asked Fleming about the odor of marijuana and asked him to step out of the car. Fleming reportedly reached into a cup holder and produced a burnt marijuana roach and handed it to Cook. Cook wrote that when he asked Fleming to empty his pockets, he appeared to try to hide something.
“Mr. Fleming emptied the contents of his pockets onto the roof of the vehicle and while doing so I noticed he was attempting to conceal something under his cellphone from me. Once Mr. Fleming completed emptying his pockets I moved his cell phone and learned he had placed a 9mm ball round under his phone.”
According to the report, Fleming explained the bullet by telling Cook that he had just sold his 9mm pistol. Once Cook confirmed that Fleming did not have a weapon, he asked him to stand at the front of the police vehicle with Brooks.
When he searched the vehicle, in addition to another burnt marijuana cigarette, Cook observed a handgun under the passenger seat. After he and Boston secured both men in handcuffs, Cook returned to the vehicle and removed the weapon.
“I then returned to the vehicle and removed the handgun-a stainless/silver in color revolver with a rubber grip Charter Arms Pit Bull 9mm,” he wrote in the report.
According to the report, the six-shot revolver was loaded with five rounds of ammunition. When Cook checked the handgun through GCIC, he learned that it had been stolen in DeKalb County in October.
Both Brooks and Fleming reportedly denied any knowledge of who the weapon belonged to. After the pair was secured in separate police vehicles, officers completed a search of the vehicle that turned up a book bag containing a smaller black bag that contained a small amount of marijuana, additional 9mm rounds and .22 caliber rounds. Officers also located a single shotgun shell in the driver’s seat pocket and two Master Card debit cards in the trunk with names other than Brooks and Fleming.
According to the report, Brooks and Fleming were arrested and transported to the Newton County Jail. Brooks was charged with speeding 56/35, possession of marijuana less than an ounce and theft by receiving. Fleming was charged with possession of marijuana less than an ounce and theft by receiving.
