OPD makes Saturday drug arrest

Sep. 19—An Odessa Police Department officer made a drug arrest early Saturday morning after pulling over a 27-year-old Odessa man for going through a red light.

According to an OPD report, the officer saw a GMC Terrain run the right light at North Grandview Avenue and East 21st Street around 2:30 a.m. and pulled the driver, Dominic Adrian Gutierrez, over.

Gutierrez smelled like marijuana and alcohol and during a subsequent search of his pants, the officer found a bottle of whiskey, eight Xanez pills and two bags in his pants with a powdery white substance inside. He also found multiple folded dollar bills with the same substance inside in his pockets and on the floor board of the car, the report stated.

Gutierrez, who was slurring his words, told the officer the substance was "coke," the report stated.

Another officer found a weight scale under Gutierrez's seat, two cell phones and another bag of cocaine, according to the report.

Gutierrez, who could barely stand on his own, told the officers he was overdosing and dying and they then saw he had cocaine on his chin close to his mouth, the report stated. Gutierrez refused to open his mouth.

"Gutierrez did take an unreasonable time to pull over, giving him plenty of time to dispose of narcotics," the report stated. "Gutierrez was also in medical distress minutes after being stopped, which is common when someone ingests a large amount of narcotics during a traffic stop."

Gutierrez was arrested on suspicion of two counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance, tampering with physical evidence and driving while intoxicated with an open container. One of the controlled substance counts, due to the amount, is a Class 1 felony punishable by five years to life in prison.

Gutierrez remained in the Ector County jail as of Monday on surety bonds totaling $81,500.