Crime & Safety

Man Drives Badly, Passenger Goes to Jail

Avon man drops hypodermic needle from pants after police pat down.

Nothing good happened for one driver’s passenger after his car was pulled over near Bleser Park on April 21.

received a call around 3:30 a.m. that a green Chrylser was crossing the center line and nearly struck vehicles. By the time police arrived, the car had pulled into a Brookfield residence with two men insider. The driver denied any driving issues, medical issues or impairment.

When police checked the record of the passenger, Donald Bitzer of Avon, police learned he had an active warrant with the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office for arson, breaking and entering and theft.

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Police began a pat down when Bitzer, 23, shook an uncapped hypodermic needle, with a bent needle and depressed plunger, fell from his pants. Bitzer admitted to police he used heroin and had last used it the previous morning with the needle that had fallen out of his pants.

Bitzer was booked at the Avon Lake police station and charged with possessing a drug abuse instrument, a second-degree misdemeanor. He pleaded no contest in the and was found guilty on April 24 and fined $350.

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The car’s driver was given a field sobriety test that indicated no indication of impairment.


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