TULSA OFFICER ARRESTED IN DRUG CASE

TULSA -- A Tulsa police sergeant was arrested on drug complaints after
several types of drugs were found in his vehicle during a routine traffic
stop in Texas. Sgt. Kirk Hewitt, a patrol officer, was arrested Tuesday and
booked into the Grayson County jail in Sherman, Texas, on complaints of
possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia,
officials said.

During a search of the vehicle, deputies found a bag with several vials of
a substance that field tested as methamphetamine, assorted pills with a
pill cutter and several containers of a substance believed to be ketamine
hydrochloride, known as "Special K," said Lt. David Hawley, a Grayson
County sheriff's spokesman.

A sheriff's deputy stopped Hewitt and driver Richard Sanchez of San Angelo,
Texas, about 10:30 a.m. on U.S. 75 for speeding.

The deputy, Cpl. Rickey Wheeler, asked both men for consent to search the
vehicle, and both men said no, Hawley said.

Hewitt, the vehicle's owner, told the deputy "he did what (Wheeler) did for
a living and did not think his vehicle needed to be searched," according to
a sheriff's report.

A unit with a drug-sniffing dog performed an open-air search and the dog
detected the smell of narcotics, Hawley said.

Using that as probable cause, deputies searched the car and found the drugs.

Hewitt and Sanchez, both 32, were arrested on complaints of possessing less
than a gram of a controlled substance, possessing less than 4 grams of a
controlled substance, possessing less than 200 grams of a controlled
substance and possessing drug paraphernalia, Hawley said. They were being
held in lieu of $45,500 bail each.

Hewitt was suspended with pay Tuesday.