A drunk man who tried to fire up a hedge trimmer and step behind the counter at Kevin’s Quick Cash Pawn has been hit with criminal charges for his unusual behavior.
The man, Robert A. Atnip, 43, is charged with public intoxication and possession of drug paraphernalia, the latter charge coming after police found a syringe with white residue concealed in his clothing.
Police were called to the pawn shop Tuesday when the clerk became alarmed at Atnip’s actions inside the store.
“Mr. Atnip kept coming behind the counter and was trying to start a gas-power hedge trimmer inside the store despite her telling him not to,” said patrolman Joseph Vanbommel in his report on the incident. “She did not feel comfortable with him in the store.”
Atnip and a woman he was with were asked to step outside the store when police arrived. It was there Atnip fared poorly on a field sobriety test and was placed under arrest for public intoxication. He claimed he had taken a Xanax earlier in the day. The syringe was found on him during a search before being placed in the patrol car for transport to jail.
The woman who drove the car they arrived in, Melisha R. Martin, 40, also faces charges after police found syringes with residue in her purse.