Monday, April 4, 2011

WSP Louisville

Police say $5 balloons contained more than just air

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- Louisville Metro Police say balloons sold Saturday night after a "Widespread Panic" concert contained more than just air -- and two men were arrested in separate incidents because of it.

According to an arrest report obtained by Fox 41 News, 20-year-old Danny James Ruiz was at the corner of 4th St. and Chestnut St. selling balloons for $5 each. Police say the balloons contained a gas -- an "unknown substance" -- and that people were inhaling the balloons to get high.

When an officer approached Ruiz, he allegedly took off running and jumped a fence into a construction area before the officer apprehended him.

He was charged with the sale of a volatile substance for unlawful inhalation, the unlawful repackaging of a volatile substance, fleeing and evading and criminal trespassing.

According to another arrest report, 29-year-old John Michael Lesson was arrested at the same location 10 minutes later. Police say they were trying to "disperse [a] crowd" from the Widespread Panic concert, which had taken place earlier at the Palace Theatre. When they stopped Lesson and told him to leave the area, police say he looked directly at the officer and "immediately began to inhale a balloon of nitrous oxide."

When the officer told Lesson he was under arrest, Lesson allegedly took off running.

Police arrested him and charged him with alcohol intoxication and resisting arrest. Officers say he was highly intoxicated, had slurred speech and glassy eyes, and smelled strongly of alcohol and marijuana.