Woman, with an 8-Year-Old in Tow, Arrested for Marijuana Possession

A 37-year-old woman from Broadview was charged with attempting to obstruct an officer and possession of a controlled substance Dec. 22 after a traffic stop in the 1100 block of Des Plaines Avenue in Forest Park.

An 8-year-old girl in the car was placed into protective custody after the 2006 Jeep driven by Jenean M. McQuitter was pulled over for failing to signal a right hand turn from Roosevelt Road to northbound Des Plaines Avenue, police said.

An officer driving immediately behind her turned on his emergency lights and pulled over the vehicle to the right curb in front of the 1100 block of Des Plaines Avenue.

When the officer asked the driver for her license and insurance, she rolled down the window, and the officer smelled the odor of burnt cannabis coming from the car. The driver started yelling at the officer, refusing to hand over both until a supervisor came to the scene. A supervisor did arrive on the scene and told McQuitter she had to give up the documents, but she refused, calling the officer a racist. The supervisor told the officer on the scene that he also could smell cannabis in the car.  

A sergeant, who arrived on the scene to talk with McQuitter, also reported smelling cannabis from the car. About 15 minutes after the initial stop, she gave up her license and insurance and was advised to get out of the car. She told police at that point that her boyfriend and another person had been smoking marijuana in the car while she was driving.

The officer who pulled over her car asked to search the car, but she refused. He then entered the passenger side of the car where the cannabis smell was strong, opened the glove compartment and saw a bag with a green leafy substance, the size of a small fist in a tied up clear plastic bag. The substance was field tested positive as 4.7 grams of marijuana.

McQuitter started yelling that the initial officer on the scene for planted the cannabis in the glove box and claimed it was not there before she got out of the car. McQuitter was placed under arrested and later charged at the station.

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