New year starts badly with traffic stops

The Commerce Police Department reported a quiet first week of the year, but two New Year’s Eve revelers face multiple charges following a pair of traffic stops in the wee hours of Jan. 1.

Both occurred on Homer Road at Pittman Creek, and the first was a cause of the second.

An officer pulled over a vehicle for a defective headlight and a defective tail light at 12:14 a.m. The driver, a white male, told the officer he’d already been issued a citation for not having his driver’s license on his person. There were two other passengers in the vehicle, a male and a female who claimed to have no identification.


The officer noticed the smell of alcohol emanating from the vehicle and questioned the driver, who said he had not been drinking. The male passenger, who was 21, admitted to having consumed alcohol, while the female, who said she was 17, denied drinking.

The female also gave police a date of birth and name that could not be found on the state database, the report indicated. First, she said she was born on Sept. 9, 1995, and later she said Sept. 7, 1995, and claimed not to be able to remember her Social Security number.

Officers found an open container of alcohol on the floor where she’d been sitting and arrested her.

Eventually, they determined that she was Joie Dawn Adams, 19, 410 Wilson Cemetery Road, Nicholson.

According to the report, Adams told police that because she was pregnant, she “needed to get something out of her.” Police removed the handcuffs, whereupon Adams reached into the front of her pants and withdrew a plastic baggy containing suspected methamphetamine.

They charged her with possession of methamphetamine, obstruction of officers, giving false information to police, violation of the open container law, underage possession of alcohol and booked her on a probation violation warrant from Jackson County.

At her request, she was transported to Northridge Medical Center.

The driver, meanwhile, tested negative for alcohol on a roadside alcosensor and was released.

Second Traffic Stop

As police were directing traffic around the medical unit called to the scene, officers saw a vehicle go by with two juveniles in the back seat who were not wearing seat belts. One of the officers pulled the vehicle over.

Upon making contact with Alisa Nicole Adams, 20, of 1732 Hwy. 15, West Monroe, LA, the officer immediately noted the smell of alcohol and that Adams had bloodshot eyes.

According to the arrest report, she repeatedly denied drinking, but finally admitted to having “possibly one Smirnoff.” However, when the officer conducted a field sobriety test, he observed that she could barely stand.

Officers found a metal flask containing what appeared to be vodka in between the driver’s seat and the center console, and Adams said it belonged to an ex-boyfriend. Her passenger, a white male, told police they’d been at a bar all night but said he could neither confirm nor deny that Adams had consumed alcoholic beverages.

According to the report, Adams told police that she always consumes a single “Smirnoff” on New Year’s Eve, dating back to when she was 15. She also contended that she should not be charged with driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUI) because the bartender served her even though she was underage.

Her argument didn’t go far. Police charged her with DUI-alcohol, DUI-endangering the life of a child, violation of the open container law, underage consumption of alcohol and a windshield infraction. The report noted that Adams refused to submit to the state-mandated blood test.

Police took the male passenger and two 9-year-old girls to an apartment at Crossing Place Apartments, Steve Reynolds Industrial Boulevard.