BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

DEBORD, Ky. — An Ohio woman was detained outside the U.S. Penitentiary Big Sandy in Debord after she was found unconscious in her car, authorities said.

Officials at the Kentucky State Police Post 9 Pikeville responded to a call at 3:12 p.m. June 1 concerning Cherron Aryel Caldwell, 36, of Dayton, Ohio.

Prison guards discovered Caldwell passed out in the driver’s seat of a 2018 black Jeep Compass. The car had been parked for several hours with its rear wheel removed and a jack positioned underneath,

The guards reported that Caldwell had an odor of an alcoholic beverage and had been seen earlier that day arriving at the parking lot. They also found an empty hydrocodone pill bottle inside the vehicle.

When a state trooper approached Caldwell, she was standing outside her car. The trooper noted an odor of alcohol on her breath.

After being asked for identification, Caldwell expressed intent to retrieve it from inside the car, but the trooper intervened to prevent her access to the vehicle, prompting her to become “irate.”

“I was standing between [Caldwell] and the vehicle,” the trooper noted in his report. “I lifted my hand to stop her from entering the vehicle so that I could search the immediate area for weapons. [Caldwell] became irate screaming, ‘Don’t put your hands on me.’ I replied that she would not reenter the vehicle until I could search it for weapons.”

The trooper drew his conducted electronic weapon after Caldwell ignored commands and continued advancing toward the vehicle. He was able to detain her without injury but said she continued to express her discontent vocally.

Caldwell was arrested on charges of first-degree disorderly conduct and alcohol intoxication in a public place. The officer transported her to the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville.

As documented on the police report, the name on the empty pill bottle matched the name of the registered owner of the vehicle.