Released by the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office …
BONIFAY – Two subjects were taken into custody following a March 27 traffic stop in front of the Holmes County EMS station on Highway 90 in Bonifay.
Deputies with the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office conducted the stop around 11:30 Wednesday morning and made contact with the driver, 25-year-old Bonifay resident Leeazia Marie Taylor (shown at right), who advised she did not have a valid driver’s license. Contact was also made with Taylor’s passenger, 31-year-old Dothan resident Tavoris Monquel Godwin (shown below), who was asked to exit the vehicle.
As Godwin complied, deputies observed a glass pipe that contained burned methamphetamine residue fall to the ground. Godwin became argumentative when instructed to put his hands behind his back, repeatedly snatching away from the deputies as they attempted to handcuff him.
Once subdued, Godwin was placed in the back of a second patrol car that had arrived on scene, where he began kicking at the back glass. As the deputy and a Bonifay police officer began restraining Godwin, he kicked at the deputy, causing injury to the deputy’s hand. A computer check through dispatch revealed that Godwin had active felony warrants out of Holmes County for battery and aggravated assault, as well as out of Dekalb County, Alabama for aggravated assault.
A search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a second glass pipe containing burned methamphetamine residue in the back seat, as well as a pipe containing burned marijuana residue in Taylor’s purse.
Taylor was arrested and charged with possession of paraphernalia, driving while license suspended, and violation of state probation. Godwin is charged with possession of methamphetamine, resisting an officer with violence, and possession of paraphernalia.
The injured deputy was treated at Doctors Memorial Hospital for a dislocated finger.
Holmes County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Bonifay Police Department for their assistance in this traffic stop.