Authorities charged a Salisbury man with cocaine possession after police spotted a group of people drinking in a local park.
The Salisbury Police Interdiction Team observed a group at Tar Branch Park, at East Liberty and North Shaver streets, Friday night just before 10 p.m.
Eric Eugene Smith, 49, of the 300 block of North Clay Street, was charged with felony possession of a scheduled controlled substance, also communicating threats and intoxicated and disruptive, both misdemeanors.
As officers approached the group, some were acting “suspicious,” a report said, and reached into their pockets. Officers searched the group for weapons. Officers found crack cocaine and a crack pipe on Smith, a report said.
The report said Smith threatened to hit an officer. Others at the park were not cited, but given verbal warnings by officers.
Smith was convicted in the late 1990s as a habitual felon and breaking and entering in 1986. He was convicted in 1981 of felony receiving stolen goods.