A driver asleep in his vehicle was arrested on drug charges Saturday, according to Maj. Percy Knight of the Bogalusa Police Department.

Knight, the public information officer for the BPD, said that on Saturday at 5:56 p.m., the BPD received a call in reference to a driver being asleep in a vehicle on the shoulder of Louisiana Avenue

Knight said that BPD Officers Cody Wilson-Hunt and Quinton Spears responded and located the driver, who was still asleep in his vehicle. The officers made contact with the driver, identified as Dennis E Bates, 51, of Bogalusa. Bates reportedly told the officers that he was having mechanical issues with his vehicle, Knight said.

Knight said that officers observed a travel bag sitting on the passenger seat of the vehicle and asked Bates if he had any illegal narcotics in the bag and Bates stated that he did not. Bates then reportedly unzipped the bag and the officers observed in plain view a cylinder glass pipe, with white residue on it, protruding from the bag.

Officers searched the travel bag and located two small plastic bags that consisted of a clear crystal substance, suspected to be methamphetamine, Knight said. Also reportedly inside the travel bag were two glass smoking pipes, two straws and a digital scale that is used for packaging and selling narcotics.

Bates was placed under arrest and booked on the charges of four counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.