Photo: Eric Scott Rodgers
A man arrested after being found passed out in his vehicle with the engine running appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Thirty-year-old Eric Scott Rodgers of Viola entered a guilty plea to drug-related charges and was put on probation for six years.
Baxter County deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle report in mid-June last year. They found a 2007 Ford Fusion parked in the driveway of an address along Arkansas Highway 101.
The male in the driver’s seat, later identified as Rodgers, was slumped against the door.
The deputies reported Rodgers’ foot was on the brake, and the car was idling in drive.
The windows on both sides of the vehicle were down, allowing the deputies to yell directly at Rodgers, but it still proved difficult to rouse him.
A deputy was able to reach into the car and turn the engine off and put the vehicle in park.
According to the probable cause affidavit, when Rodgers did finally come to, he did not know where he was.
The deputies reported Rodgers was anxious to leave the scene. His eyes were bloodshot, and he appeared to be under the influence of some type of substance.
When the deputies asked Rodgers how he ended up in the driveway, he said he had pulled over “to get high and must have passed out.”
When Rodgers exited the vehicle, the deputies saw two syringes – one on the seat where he had been sitting and another on the floorboard in front of his seat.
Deputies searched Rodgers and found slightly more than $2,000 in cash on his person.
A large bag was recovered from the vehicle containing what appeared to be marijuana.
There were several smaller plastic bags inside the larger one of a type commonly used in the sale of drugs.
Rodgers has also had a number of criminal cases filed against him in Fulton County.
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