Duo arrested for drug trafficking after almost hitting police car

Two Corbin men are behind bars on drug trafficking and other charges after the vehicle they were in allegedly almost hit a police cruiser Sunday afternoon.

Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonas Saunders charged the driver, Danny Ray McGinnis, 60, of Whippoorwill Road, and passenger James C. Combs, 48, of Corinth Road, with first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance (less than two grams of methamphetamine), and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Saunders also charged McGinnis with reckless driving and failure to have vehicle insurance.

Saunders also charged Combs with first-degree possession of a controlled substance.

Saunders arrested the pair about 4:23 p.m. on Corinth Cemetery Road after stopping the 1992 white Bonneville that they were driving in the middle of the roadway and almost struck him, he wrote on an arrest citation.

When the vehicle stopped, Saunders determined that Combs had two active arrest warrants, and a blue flashlight inside his right pocket that had a large amount of methamphetamine inside and five pills believed to be hydrocodone inside his pocket, according to an arrest citation.

McGinnis also had a flashlight in his pocket with several small empty baggies inside, according to court documents.

Police searched the vehicle and turned up a set of digital scales and two pipes, according to arrest citations.

Both were lodged in the Whitley County Detention Center.

McGinnis is being held in lieu of a $50,000 cash bond, according to the detention center’s website.

So far there has been no bond set for Combs, whose two warrants were apparently for non-payment of fines in connection with a pair of 2016 misdemeanor cases, according to the jail’s website.