DRIVER SWALLOWS METH BAGS, DIES

PETERSBURG, Ind. -- A southern Indiana man died soon after swallowing
several small bags of methamphetamine as a sheriff's deputy was
pulling his car over, authorities said.

An autopsy found that Shane Crume, 22, had seven small plastic bags
of meth -- all with twist ties around them -- in his stomach area
along with another bag stuck in his esophagus.

Crume, of rural Petersburg, was arrested early Wednesday after a Pike
County sheriff's deputy stopped his car on Ind. 56 about 40 miles
north of Evansville after a tip from state police that he was
transporting drugs, Sheriff Todd Meadors said.

Crume and his girlfriend, who was a passenger in the car, were
arrested after deputies searching the car found a glass pipe with
burnt residue inside it and found meth in his front pants pocket, police said.

Crume became ill as he was being booked at the Pike County Jail and
was taken by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, where
he was pronounced dead, Meadors said. Crume's girlfriend told
investigators that he had swallowed the bags of meth as their car was
being stopped, the sheriff said.

Crume's arrest followed a tip given to police officers in the town of
Francisco in neighboring Gibson County by a man who was arrested
after he spit out a bag that contained meth, Francisco Town Marshal
Vance Lloyd said.

"The death of Shawn Crume is tragic and is evidence of our serious
methamphetamine problem in southwest Indiana," Lloyd said.

Police said that Crume's 13-year-old sister and his 3-year-old
daughter were passengers in his car when it was stopped. The Division
of Family and Children took custody of his daughter and the teen was
released to her parents.