'Are you kidding?!' Driver arrested for trying to snort cocaine during traffic stop, cops say



SEATTLE -- Video of a traffic stop posted by Seattle police shows an officer apparently watching a man try to snort cocaine during a traffic stop.

Officer Nic Abts-Olsen was patrolling the Colman neighborhood around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when a silver Toyota drove past him with its headlights off.

Police said the officer pulled over the car and asked the driver for his license and registration. As the officer walked back to the car, he said the driver was portioning out a scoop of cocaine from a small glass vial.

Dashcam video shows the traffic stop.

Officer: "Are you kidding?! You're about to snort coke on the side of the road?"

Officer: "What was it? I'm watching you do it."

Suspect: "It's nothing... just some vitamin pills that I take."

Officer: "That's not vitamins."

Suspect: "I know."

Officer: "What would possess you to do that with a police officer right behind you? I just don't understand."

Suspect: "I don't understand either. I've never had a traffic ticket."

Officer: "I just saw that. I was going to come up and give you a warning."


Eventually the suspect admitted that snorting cocaine in the middle of a traffic stop was "perhaps a poor decision," police said.

The suspect was arrested and booked into King County Jail for narcotics possession.