A Scranton man arrested on charges he sold crack cocaine attempted to run away after he was taken into custody by Lackawanna County detectives, authorities said.
Detectives charged Sharrieff D. Carter, 46, with two counts of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver, and a single count each of criminal use of a communication facility, escape, resisting arrest, tampering with/fabricating physical evidence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Carter met with a confidential informant in downtown Scranton on Tuesday, sold the informant a zip-close bag containing crack cocaine and left, detectives wrote in a criminal complaint. Detectives tracked Carter by video surveillance and took him into custody when he got to the corner of Linden Street and North Washington Avenue. They found $178 and a cellphone the informant said he used to facilitate his transactions, and Carter told detectives he had additional crack cocaine in his pants.
Detectives transported Carter to the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office and, as they tried to take him into the building, Carter bolted through the parking lot, according to the complaint. A detective tackled him, at which time Carter threw the additional crack cocaine onto the ground. Detectives later recovered the drugs, and the incident was captured on video.
Both the drugs purchased by the confidential informant and the drugs Carter threw on the ground later tested positive as crack cocaine.
“I would like to thank our Drug Task Force officers for their hard work and dedication,” District Attorney Brian Gallagher said in a statement. “Through their investigations and arrests, they are reducing the amount of drugs available on our streets and making our community safer.”
Carter was arraigned Tuesday before Magisterial District Judge Christopher Szewczyk, who set bail at $150,000. He was taken to the Lackawanna County Prison, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 22.