By Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A Doraville K-9 officer stopped a man on I-285 Wednesday for not wearing a seat belt and discovered that he was making meth in his Acura, police said.
Thomas Christian Johns, 30, of Lawrenceville is being held in the Doraville jail on charges of trafficking, manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine.
Doraville Officer Marcella Nelson stopped an Acura Integra on the Perimeter between Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard shortly before noon.
Nelson made the stop because the driver was not wearing a seat belt, Doraville police spokesman Gene Callaway said.
“As she approached the vehicle, she noticed a strong smell of chemicals,” Callaway said. She also noted a number of wires leading away from the vehicle’s cigarette lighter.
The officer ran Johns’ registration and learned that he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for traffic charges, Callaway said.
She asked Johns for permission to search the car, but he refused. That’s when the officer walked her specially trained German shepherd, named Dak, around the outside of the vehicle.
Nelson summoned Drug Enforcement Administration agents after Dak alerted her to the likely presence of drugs.
Officers dressed in hazardous materials suits searched the car and found products to make meth, along with about a half of a gram of the drug, Callaway said.
Police also reported finding a blender and a cooler in the back seat.
“He was definitely manufacturing inside the car,” Callaway said.
Westbound traffic was blocked on I-285 for about an hour while police dismantled the car.
“The danger of that is that in this process if the bottle is disturbed or broken, it can generate a three-foot flame,” Callaway said. “That can be pretty dangerous is you’re driving 60 mph on the interstate. It can burn him and cause a major wreck.”
Copyright 2009 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution