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Joseph Witt, New Town, charged with being high behind wheel of car with child present

Joseph Amos Witt, 34, New Town, is accused of driving the wrong way on U.S. Highway 52 in Ward County on Monday with a preschooler in the back seat. Ward County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Conrad Kossan found Witt’s vehicle, still facing the wrong way, in the ditch in the 4000 block of Highway 52 South. Witt was passed out behind the wheel of the vehicle. A 4- or 5-year-old child was asleep in the back seat.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed with the court, Kossan woke Witt up. Witt was drooling, had slurred speech, and his pupils were dilated, all signs of narcotics use.

A search of the car turned up a vaporizer pen that tested positive for THC oil, a shortened straw with suspected drug residue, a marijuana storage container and smoking device with suspected drug residue, stripped cottons.

The sheriff’s department obtained a warrant to blood test Witt. Witt later consented to the blood draw after first refusing.

Witt was seen on video, which Kossan reviewed later, removing a Xanax pill from his shirt pocket and stuffing it in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The officer then found two Xanax pills stuffed in the seat.

In court during his initial appearance before Judge Richard Hagar, Witt claimed he had been sleeping and there were no pills. He appeared to be so confused that the judge said he would not see him on Tuesday but would reschedule his initial appearance for this afternoon.

Witt has been charged with actual physical control with a minor present and possession of Xanax pills, both Class A misdemeanors. He was also cited for wrong way driving, according to the probable cause affidavit.

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