An alleged pursuit in Emporia late last week isn’t the only legal concern Mariel Martin now has in Lyon County District Court.
Martin, age 40 of Emporia, has been charged with separate counts of distributing under 100 grams of methamphetamine and under 100 dosage units of Ecstasy — and in both cases, doing so within 1,000 feet of Village Elementary, near where she crashed to end a law enforcement pursuit Friday and was subsequently arrested.
In addition, Martin has been charged with a count of aggravated battery reckless deadly weapon, with her car being listed as the weapon. Martin is also charged with flee and elude, possession of paraphernalia and criminal damage.
Emporia Police officers say the alleged incident leading to Martin’s arrest Friday started with an attempted traffic stop near 12th and Rural. Instead of stopping, Martin allegedly fled north to 15th and Rural before turning west, ignoring the stop sign at 15th and Rural and the one at 15th and Prairie before crashing into a minivan driven by 37-year-old Jason Carey of Emporia. Nobody went to the hospital afterward. Martin’s car briefly went airborne before stopping in a front yard near 15th and Thompson.
Initially, officers said Martin was arrested for outstanding warrants with a chance of charges related to the chase. There was no initial mention of drug activity last week. Martin allegedly absconded from parole almost a month ago and a Department of Corrections warrant was issued Friday — the day of the alleged chase.
Following her first court appearance Tuesday, Martin will return to District Court for a preliminary hearing April 8.
Martin is also facing interference with law enforcement for another Lyon County case after an alleged incident right before Christmas. She has a pretrial hearing April 1 in that case.
