On July 28th at around 7:15 a.m., police were dispatched to 619 Saint Joseph Street for a report of a male subject parked on the street who was honking his horn and appeared to be falling asleep in the driver’s seat. Police located the vehicle and attempted to make contact with the driver (identified as 32-year-old Skyler Ford of Hill City). Upon contact, he was lying unconscious in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. As police attempted to communicate with him, he showed signs of impairment. He was asked to exit the vehicle, and upon completion of a DUI investigation, it was determined that Ford was too impaired to operate a motor vehicle. A search of his person turned up a silver package, which the officer recognized as synthetic marijuana. Ford the snatched the package back from the officer’s hand and began running from the scene into oncoming traffic. Once across the street Ford turned into the alleyway between Main Street and St. Joseph Street. While fleeing, Ford tripped and fell to the ground. He attempted to get back up, but the pursuing officer deployed his Taser in order to get Ford into handcuffs. A search of Ford’s vehicle turned up more bags of the synthetic marijuana, and an open alcohol container. Jones was placed under arrest for DUI (5th), Obstruction, Open Container in a Motor Vehicle, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and a Parole Hold. He was transported to the Pennington County Jail.
