A man traveling Interstate 75 on a kick scooter caught the attention of someone who alerted police he was "suspicious" and too close to lanes of travel. The call sent officers to exit 283 in Emerson and the Cartersville resident they found to jail.
A deputy who responded to the call reports Wiiliam Travis Empie, 23, was on a Razor-type scooter just before an exit ramp at 1 a.m. He allegedly said he was headed home to Smiley Ingram Road from Acworth, but would have been lost had he taken another route.
That's about the time Empie's encounter with police went south. After telling Empie scooters, bicycles and the like are not allowed on the interstate, the deputy asked about weapons.
Empie said he had a knife and a paper weight, but became nervous and pulled away from a pat down, reports the deputy, who by then was assisted by an Emerson police officer.
The law enforcement duo took Empie to the ground—they allege he resisted arrest—then pulled out a Taser and ordered his hands behind his back. An apparently reluctant Empie "finally" was handcuffed, the deputy reports.
But that wasn't the end of the roadside event, as the deputy reports he heard a shaking sound while standing in front of Empie. According to the officer, Empie, seated in the front seat of the police car, threw a small, plastic pill bottle from behind his back into the highway.
When the deputy yelled, confronting Empie with that accusation, he allegedly said, "That's not my pill bottle. That officer must have put in my pocket while y'all were fighting with me."
In addition to the alleged angina pills prescribed to another man and the knife, authorities say Empie was carrying box cutters and a BB handgun. He was arrested and is accused of two counts of felony obstruction of officers and two charges related to the medication, classified as a "dangerous drug."
