2 arrested in drug case
TIM HRENCHIRThe sight of a moving car with a man's head sticking out a window Wednesday raised the suspicion of Shawnee County sheriff's deputies.
Deputies said they stopped the car and arrested the occupants after determining it contained a chemical used to make an illegal drug.
One man had his head out the window to avoid fumes after an apparent spill inside the car of anhydrous ammonia, a nitrogen fertilizer that is a key ingredient in making methamphetamine, said sheriff's Capt. Rick Hladky.
Anhydrous ammonia can be fatal if enough is inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
Hladky didn't release the names of the two men, ages 30 and 39, whom he said were booked into the Shawnee County Jail in connection with the attempted manufacture of methamphetamine, a felony.
Initially, Hladky said, one of the men felt chest pains, apparently from breathing the chemical, and was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to a Topeka hospital, where he was treated, then released.
Hladky gave this account of the arrest and seizure:Deputies late Wednesday afternoon stopped a car in the 5300 block of S.W. Fairlawn Road after seeing it going the opposite direction with a man's head hanging out a window.
The car stopped abruptly. Both occupants got out and ran a few steps, apparently fleeing a strong odor that came from the car, before obeying deputies' order to stop.
Authorities found in the car a large garden sprayer and one other container holding what was thought to be four or five gallons of anhydrous ammonia. Deputies didn't know how the men acquired the chemical.
The sheriff's department continued to investigate late Wednesday. Hladky asked anyone with information that might help investigators to call the department at 368-2200.
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