ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Two women face multiple charges after Ashland City officers watched a video of them swallowing what police claim to be drugs in the back of a squad car.
Officers pulled up on a parked car in front of a closed business around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, August 27. Within minutes, officers suspected drug usage. Authorities asked for permission to search the car and found both pills and a powdery substance. One of the women in the vehicle admitted the substance was heroin.
"I do have an addiction to heroin," one of the women said on body camera footage.
The women — who said they're sisters — claimed to be living in the car, which contained a small safe. When police looked inside the safe, they said they found more pills.
Before putting the women in the squad car, officers asked the women if they had any more drugs or other illegal items. The women said no, and an additional search turned up nothing.
However, a police report noted that in the back of the squad car, one woman asked the other where their meth was — calling it by the street name "ice." Video then showed one of the women pulling something out of her shirt; police said that something was drugs.
The other woman bent down and grabbed the item with her teeth before swallowing it.
"I got another one," the first women whispered.
Video showed the same woman pulling out another object, which police said was drugs wrapped in plastic. Again, the first woman transferred the item to the second woman, who grabbed it with her teeth.
This time, the second woman transferred the item from her mouth to the first woman's mouth. The first woman tried to swallow the item, but sounded as though she choked. She complained that she could not do it.
"Just swallow it," the other woman said on the video.
Ashland City Police Chief Kenny Ray said that they don't know what substance the women ate, but he added that there has not been a report of any adverse reaction at the jail.
"People will go to any lengths to hide drugs and not be charged," Ray said. "If they're an addict, they also want to keep their medicine or their drug [that] they're using."
Ray added that every time officers put someone in the back of a police car, officers review the video to make sure that suspects did not leave anything behind.
Both women were charged with possession of a variety of drugs as well as tampering with evidence. They have since made bond.