By Travis Uresk
12/1/24
| Uintah County | November 24th, 2024 |
Central Dispatch received a call about a reckless driver traveling West on US-40 near milepost 172. The report said that a red car was brake-checking the complainant and almost caused a head-on collision.
A second call came in stating that a red passenger car was passing milepost 155 and was still swerving, not letting people pass. The complainant stated he had dash camera footage of the incident.
At around 8:00 p.m., an officer made a traffic stop in the area of 2550 South 1500 East, and it was determined that the vehicle he stopped was the same one involved in the reckless driver call.
Deputy Russell arrived shortly to assist and made contact with a single male driver, later identified as 36-year-old Raymond O Ibe, by his Texas driver's license.
When the deputy spoke with Raymond, he seemed nervous. When asked about the traffic stop, he immediately grabbed his cell phone and began recording, asking the deputy for his name and badge number.
When Deputy Russell gave Raymond the information and informed him that he didn't have a badge number, Raymond got upset and asked who the deputy worked for. The deputy knew that Raymond wasn't going to cooperate with the investigation. When the deputy asked a simple question about where he came from, he responded, "I don't answer any questions."
The deputy returned to his patrol vehicle and called the complainant, who had the dash camera footage. During the investigation, Deputy Russell was able to see several times in the video where the car driven by Raymond was nearly involved in a head-on crash, driving over the center line and then back across the fog line.
At this time, Deputy Russell decided to arrest Raymond for reckless driving. Because Raymond was also brake-checking the complainant and using signs in an intimidating manner, reckless driving would be enhanced with a road rage charge, a class A misdemeanor.
The officer returned to speak with Raymond, and when he asked him to step out of the car, Raymond asked why. The deputy responded, "You are going to be arrested."
Raymond asked why he was being arrested, and Deputy Russell stated that as soon as he exited the car, he would explain everything. Raymond said he didn't consent to any searches of his person or seizure of his property.
Raymond exited the vehicle and was placed in handcuffs behind his back.
After Raymond was secured, an inventory of his vehicle was conducted. Upon entering the car, the officer could smell a strong odor of marijuana in the area of the center console. He found a small metal socket item with marijuana in it.
Deputy Russell returned to speak with Raymond to read him his Miranda Rights, and he advised that he would not like to speak with the officer at this time.
Because the officer located marijuana inside the vehicle, he asked Raymond to open his mouth so that he could see his tongue. When Raymond opened his mouth, Deputy Russell could smell a very distinct odor of marijuana and that he had an odd green paste all over his tongue.
The deputy explained to Raymond that he knew he said that he didn't want to speak about the arrest, but the deputy was now concerned about his safety and asked Raymond if he had eaten any of the marijuana.
Raymond denied ingesting the marijuana.
At this time, it was decided it would be best to transport Raymond to jail so that he would have someone to watch him if he did ingest marijuana.
During the transport to jail, Raymond began talking to the deputy as if they had known each other for a long time. Raymond's demeanor had changed greatly from the first interaction on the side of the road to the way he was talking now.
When they arrived at the jail, Deputy Russell could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from the backseat of his patrol vehicle where Raymond was sitting. He exited the patrol vehicle, where the deputy noticed that Raymond had a very green paste around the outside of his lips and mouth that hadn't been there during the time of the arrest, making the officer believe that he had ingested the marijuana.
Raymond was booked into Uintah County Jail for reckless driving with the road rage enhancement for attempting to intimidate the complainants by brake-checking them.
Raymond is not a local resident of the Uintah Basin and was stopped in a vehicle registered in North Dakota and with a driver's license from Texas. It is believed that if Raymond is released, he will flee the area and not return for future court hearings.
Deputy Russell is requesting that Raymond Ibe be held without bail.
Based on the affirmation of Deputy Russell, the arresting officer, the undersigned magistrate finds that probable cause existed for the arrest without a warrant of Raymond O Ibe.
Raymond O Ibe may post bail in the amount of $2,500.00.
All the articles from 1nationjustice.com are from the affidavits of probable cause reports that the officers write. If you would like, you can get a copy of the report from the website below. It does cost money to get on the site and to open every document you want to read.
 Â
Comments