The California Highway Patrol arrested a man on suspicion of
possession of a controlled substance after he drove through a
construction site on Highway 152 early Friday morning.
Hollister – The California Highway Patrol arrested a man on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance after he drove through a construction site on Highway 152 early Friday morning.
Madera resident Joaquin Saucedo Castro, 30, was arrested after running over a cone pattern at a Caltrans construction site at 2:45am Friday, according to CHP Officer Chris Armstrong.
Castro was driving eastbound at an unknown rate of speed when a CHP officer saw him drive into the road closure, hit two cones and make a U-turn in the middle of it and speed off in the opposite direction on San Felipe Road, according to the CHP. No one was injured.
An officer jumped in his patrol car and promptly pulled Castro over on San Felipe Road, just south of the county line, Armstrong said. While talking to the driver, the officer saw two baggies of a white, rock-like substance in plain view inside the car, Armstrong said.
The officer also discovered Castro was unlicensed. After placing Castro under arrest, the officer found three more baggies of a brown, hard substance in the center console.
In all, Armstrong said several grams of suspicious substances were, but that tests results had not yet determined what they were.
Castro was taken into custody and booked for felony drug possession and a misdemeanor unlicensed driver charge in the San Benito County Jail in lieu of $10,340, according to jail personnel.
Caltrans employees had closed a lane on Highway 152 to prepare the road for shoulder-widening and guard-rail construction work that will being this summer, said Susana Zavala, Caltrans public information officer. The CHP was providing traffic control during the prep work because construction workers had to close a portion of the road, according to the CHP.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or em*******@fr***********.com
