While assisting the Missouri State Highway Patrol with a DWI checkpoint March 15 at Highway 17 and Airport Road, Houston Police Department officers became involved in an incident that resulted in the arrests of a man and woman on firearms and drug charges.
According to an officer’s report, contact was made at about 12:30 a.m. with a Jeep Cherokee bearing Kansas plates. While speaking with the woman who was driving the vehicle, the officer detected a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside.
The woman and a male passenger were asked to exit the vehicle, and another officer assisted the HPD K-9 dog, Rooke, in a sniff of its exterior. The dog reportedly alerted on the driver’s door, and the woman was advised that the vehicle would be searched.
At that time, the man became belligerent and approached the officer who was conducting the search. He was told to return to the rear of the vehicle where he had been standing with another officer, but he reportedly refused and became more belligerent.
An officer then told him he was under arrest for interfering with an investigation, but the man resisted being handcuffed and had to be subdued by several officers. During the ensuing struggle, an MSHP patrol car sustained damage.
When placed in the patrol car, the man kicked and continued to resist, but a trooper placed him in a vascular neck restraint and he was rendered unconscious.
During the search of the vehicle, two pistols, three bullet magazines and six boxes of ammunition were located and seized. Further investigation revealed that the man was a convicted felon, and he was incarcerated at the Texas County Jail.
Marijuana was found during the search, and officers located a smoking device concealed in the woman’s clothing. She also failed a field sobriety test and was jailed pending possession and DWI charges.
Texas County Prosecuting Attorney Parke Stevens Jr. filed charges March 16 against both suspects.
Jason M. Twyford, 35, of 8630 Highway 17 in Bucyrus, faces felony charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and first-degree property damage, and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest. He is held on $300,000 bond.
Emily Twyford, 35, of Prairieville, La., was charged with felony possession of concealed drugs in a jail, and misdemeanor driving while intoxicated – drugs and possession of marijuana. She is held on $75,000 bond.