Woman Arrested While 'Screaming, Clawing at Her Face'

A local woman was arrested outside of the Storrs Street liquor store and again a week and a half alter, after testing came back showing she allegedly had drugs in her vehicle.

Jessica E. Thistle, 24, of Youngs Hill Road in Loudon, was arrested at 1:06 p.m. on June 3, and charged with obstructing government administration and resisting arrest or detention. She was arrested again at 6:01 p.m. on June 13, on a felony possession of controlled drugs charge.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Concord Police Department. It does not indicate a conviction. Click this link to find out how to get a name removed from a New Hampshire Patch police report.

According to a report, officers were sent to the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet on Storrs Street for a woman “in distress who was clawing at her face and screaming.”

The witness stated that she saw the woman sitting in a car for about 15 minutes clawing herself causing her face to bleed while also screaming. The officer approached the woman, later identified as Thistle, who was sitting in a Chevrolet Aveo right outside of the store. She was allegedly agitated, fidgeting constantly, scratching her face, and had several mood swings “being calm and polite one minute and volatile and hostile the next,” according to the report.

Thistle allegedly admitted to the officer that she was previously addicted to heroin but had switched to suboxone and was receiving a small dose daily. The officer, however, allegedly saw “numerous pieces of balled up aluminum foil in plain view both inside the vehicle as well as on the ground below the driver’s door” and “a pill bottle and what appeared to be sealed sterile cotton swabs in the pouch behind the driver seat.”

Thistle reportedly told the officer that she was meeting her probation officer and stopped to put on some makeup. When asked why she wasn’t in Loudon to meet with her probation officer, she reportedly repeated that she stopped to put on some makeup. She also allegedly stated that the aluminum foil balls were from the past and she hadn’t cleaned up her car. The officer also reported seeing aluminum foil balls on the ground outside of the car.

The officer questioned her about drugs in the car and she reportedly became increasing agitated, fidgeting with items in the vehicle, including a small pouch she said was her wallet. The officer then called a family member who owned the vehicle who declined to consent a search of the vehicle.

The officer informed Thistle that he would be seizing the vehicle and filing for a search warrant. Thistle allegedly refused to leave the car and “began making furtive movements” inside. She was reportedly warned to step out of the car or she would be arrested. After numerous attempts, she was arrested, “hysterically crying and screaming” as she was pulled from the vehicle.

During a search later, the officer allegedly found a small white rock, believed to be methamphetamine, in one of the aluminum balls. 

Ten days later, Thistle was arrested again on felony warrant for drug possession charge. She was placed on 72-hour probation hold and held in the Merrimack County House of Corrections.

In February 2011, Thistle was arrested along with three other people for allegedly stealing items from local stores, reselling the items, and using the cash to buy drugs, according to the Concord Monitor.

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