Body cam shows allegedly armed man carrying drugs arrested during traffic stop
By: Atlanta police arrested an allegedly armed man found with a stash of drugs in his car during a traffic stop.
Video from an officer's body-worn camera shows police cuff 39-year-old Jamal Freeman, who was driving a Dodge Challenger that police pulled over for traffic violations on Dec. 17.
According to police, officers discovered the car smelled like marijuana and asked Freeman to get out. On camera, an officer is heard explaining he was going to cite Freeman for marijuana possession, which is decriminalized.
"If there's any marijuana in the car, tell me, I'ma get it, write you a ticket for it and send you on your way," an officer says on video.
The officer then asks the driver, identified as Freeman, to step out of his car after handing over what appears to be a pipe.
"But why am I stepping out?" Freeman says.
He stands up momentarily, but sits back down in the seat of his car when an officer tells him to "face this way." Police said, as he sat back down, he "begins reaching toward his left side." Police explained they later found he was carrying two handguns.
Police searched the rest of the car after detaining Freeman and found 2.4 pounds of methamphetamine, over a pound of marijuana, and 23 oxycodone pills.
Police arrested a passenger, 33-year-old Chanele Lamb, who they said was carrying 89 MDMA pills.
Police said Freeman had previously been convicted of armed robbery.