Car collision leads to warrant/drug bust

Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: Safford Police arrested and booked Heather Hancock-Adams, 21,  on multiple warrants after she left the scene of a car crash Friday night. Hancock-Adams was also found to have heroin and a prescription-only drug in her possession.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

SAFFORD – A non-injury two-car collision Friday evening led to the apprehension of a wanted woman and the seizure of a usable amount of heroin.

Heather Hailee Hancock-Adams, 21, of Safford, was arrested and booked into the Graham County Adult Detention Facility on three warrants after being located by an officer while attempting to walk away from a two-car collision at 8th Avenue and Relation Street. Hancock-Adams was apparently a passenger in a vehicle that was struck by another vehicle.

Contributed Photo/Courtesy GCSO: Heather Hancock-Adams

Officers were dispatched to the collision scene at about 8:54 p.m. According to an accident report, a blue, 2007 Dodge Charger driven by a 17-year-old juvenile had failed to yield at the intersection to a westbound white Chevrolet car. The southbound Charger T-boned the Chevy, which had to be removed by a tow truck.

The juvenile’s father arrived at the scene and recovered the Charger, which was still drivable. The juvenile was given a citation for not stopping at the stop sign, according to the traffic report.

While en route to the scene, officers were informed that a woman had exited the Chevrolet after the collision and walked away.

Hancock-Adams was located walking westbound on Relation Street at 11th Avenue, roughly three blocks from the crash scene.

After initially denying being involved in the collision, Hancock-Adams allegedly admitted she was in the car when it was hit and that she had warrants for her arrest and was in possession of a usable amount of heroin. Hancock-Adams was wanted in Graham County Superior Court on a warrant after her probation for possession of drug paraphernalia was revoked in January, and she had three warrants out of the Gila Valley Consolidated Court; two regarding failure to pay fees regarding possession of drug paraphernalia convictions and one regarding a shoplifting charge.

Hancock-Adams retrieved a small baggie of heroin from her underclothing and gave it to the officer. Later, she was also found to be in possession of a blue straw and a piece of aluminum foil with burnt drug residue.

Hancock-Adams also had two packages of Suboxone, which is used for the treatment of opioid dependence. The prescription-only drug is meant to act as an abuse-deterrent because it contains naloxone, which is an opioid agonist. Naloxone is the drug in Narcan that brings patients out of an opioid overdose.

Suboxone should only be used in conjunction with an addiction treatment program, however, and some heroin addicts use it in between doses of heroin to keep withdrawal symptoms at bay.

Hancock-Adams informed the officer that she did not have a prescription for the Suboxone and that a friend with a prescription had given her the two packages. She was then taken to the jail and booked on her warrants. The report was sent to the Graham County Attorney’s Office for review, and additional charges could include possession of a narcotic (heroin) drug, possession of a prescription-only drug, and possession of drug paraphernalia.