Eunice Police have arrested a Ville Platte Police officer, records show.
Connor Atchinson, 22, a Ville Platte Police Officer, was booked with illegal window tint, no seat belt, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a prescription with an obliterated label and possession of prescription medication without a prescription.
He remains in the St. Landry Parish jail in lieu of $5,000 bond.
Ville Platte Chief Neal Lartigue says Atchinson will be on administrative leave while the incident is investigated and disciplinary action is determined.
Atchinson was arrested after a Eunice officer pulled him over, said Eunice Chief Randy Fontenot.
The Eunice officer noticed a vehicle with illegally dark tint, and when the driver saw the police car he rolled down all the windows, the chief said, and that's when the Eunice officer saw the driver wasn't wearing a seat belt.
When the Eunice officer pulled the vehicle over, and asked the driver for his license and registration, the driver allegedly handed the officer his law enforcement commission card, showing he was a Ville Platte officer, Fonteont said.
The officer again asked for his license and registration, and noticed that the driver, identified as Atchinson, allegedly smelled like marijuana. When the Eunice officer asked why he smelled pot, Atchinson allegedly said it was because he had just smoked some, because it helps him relax.
Eunice Police searched the car - which did not belong to Atchinson - and that search allegedly turned up a scale, a grinder and a bottle of more than 100 prescription pills which appeared to be promethazine hydrochloride, which is sometimes known as phenergan. Atchinson told police that those pills helped him sleep, Fontenot said.
The search also turned up an empty package marked "Peanut Butter Breath," the name of a hybrid strain of marijuana that is legal to purchase in some states, but not in Louisiana. Fontenot said the package did contain a warning, stating that the contents included a Schedule I drug - which marijuana is considered to be under federal law.
The pills have been sent to a lab to verify what they are, Fontenot said. Fontenot said Atchinson wasn't booked with any possession of marijuana charge because there was only minute amounts, or residue, of what appeared to be marijuana turned up during the search.
