JPD: K-9 officer sniffs out meth | Crime

A woman stopped for a broken taillight wound up in handcuffs after a Jonesboro K-9 police officer reportedly sniffed out meth in her car.

The arrest occurred just after 11 a.m. Monday at the intersection of University Loop West and Eldridge Street.

According to Officer Blake Bristow, he stopped Tara Wittig, 25, of Jonesboro for driving with a defective brake light.  During the stop, he reportedly asked if she had anything illegal in the car.  After she said “there shouldn’t be anything in the vehicle,” Bristow reported he deployed his “trained and certified drug sniffing canine, Dirk.”

When the dog passed the window of the car, he reportedly jumped up and his “breathing pattern changed.”  Bristow reported “the body movement and breathing changes are the same behavior changes that I have observed while training Dirk on drug detection.”

Officer Bristow said he then searched the car but found no evidence of drugs or contraband.  He then reportedly asked Wittig if she had anything illegal on her person.  According to the report, Wittig quickly responded that she did.  Because she had answered the question so quickly, Bristow reportedly asked her again if she had anything.  Again, Wittig said she did and “pulled a small plastic bag containing a white substance from her bra,” according to the police report.

Wittig reportedly told Officer Bristow she had found the meth at her home and “was going to get rid of it because she needed the money.”

Wittig was arrested and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance (meth).

Photo provided by Craighead County Sheriff's Office.