Raleigh Officer Hurt After Driver Throws Cocaine During Traffic Stop

Just before midnight on March 10, a routine traffic stop on Salisbury Street turned dangerous when the driver allegedly threw suspected cocaine out of his car window as officers approached the vehicle, exposing a Raleigh police officer to the drug and triggering an immediate arrest.

Dirushi M. Jones, 46, identified in court documents, was taken into custody at the scene and later ordered held without bond. The officer who was exposed to the suspected cocaine was treated at the scene and sustained what police described as non-life-threatening injuries.

According to WRAL, Raleigh police said Jones threw suspected cocaine out of the window as officers walked up to the car, prompting an immediate response and his arrest. The act of ejecting the drugs did not prevent charges from following; it added to them substantially.

Jones now faces a wide array of felony and misdemeanor counts. WRAL reports he was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, possession with intent to sell or distribute cocaine, altering or destroying evidence, resisting an officer with serious injury, and allegedly possessing drugs within 1,000 feet of school property. Additional misdemeanor motor-vehicle violations and open-container charges round out the case against him.

The charge of possessing drugs within 1,000 feet of school property raises questions about which school sits near the stretch of Salisbury Street where the stop occurred, a detail that has not been confirmed in public reporting. The specific quantity of cocaine allegedly thrown from the vehicle, the nature of the officer's exposure, and whether any other occupants were in the car also remain publicly unconfirmed.

The incident fits a pattern that has emerged across the region this winter. A traffic stop in nearby Salisbury in December uncovered suspected fentanyl and cocaine, as reported by WSOC, one of several narcotics-related stops that have drawn attention across Wake and adjacent counties in recent months.

Jones faces arraignment in Wake County court, where the full list of charges will be formally presented. The Raleigh Police Department has not yet released an official incident report or statement beyond the details communicated through news reports, and no body-worn camera footage has been made publicly available.