THOUGHT YOU WOULD GET A KICK OUT OF THIS Lakehurst mayor charged with possessing marijuana, driving under the influence Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/2/07 BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE TOMS RIVER BUREAU
Post Comment MANCHESTER — Stephen Childers, the mayor of Lakehurst and also the Ocean County roads supervisor, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and driving under the influence of the drug late Wednesday, police said.
Childers, 50, was arrested after Manchester Patrolman Brian Collins stopped his pickup truck at about 11:45 p.m. Wednesday because he had smelled burned marijuana coming from the truck.
Collins was driving behind Childers as they approached police activity on the side of Route 70 East. A Lakehurst police officer had been performing a motor vehicle stop that had slowed traffic, said Capt. John McCarthy of Manchester.
As Childers' pickup slowed, and the Manchester patrol car was behind him, the officer could smell the marijuana from the driver's window. Collins initiated a traffic stop on Route 70 and Childers pulled over near Beckerville Road. While the car was behind the truck, Childers tossed an object out his window that struck the window of the police car and dispersed embers, McCarthy said.
Collins suspected the item to be a marijuana cigarette.
Childers was alone in the truck and offered no resistance to the officer and was compliant, McCarthy said.
Childers is charged with possession of under 50 grams of marijuana, being under the influence of marijuana, throwing debris from a motor vehicle, reckless driving, possession in a motor vehicle of paraphernalia, being under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance and driving while under the influence
