A Lyndora man is accused of trying to ditch drugs from his pocket during a Jan. 10 traffic stop.

State police filed charges Tuesday against Austin P. Smith, 22, including felony counts of drug sales and escape, as well as misdemeanor counts of drug, marijuana and paraphernalia possession.

Smith has yet to be arraigned on the charges, but he is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Nov. 7 before District Judge William Fullerton.

The charges come more than eight months after the incident, which involved a 1:25 a.m. traffic stop on Heim Avenue in Butler. According to the affidavit, police stopped the vehicle for an unlit brake light.

Police said while talking with Smith they suspected he may have been impaired, and they asked him to exit for field sobriety tests.

“When I asked Smith to exit the vehicle, he appeared nervous,” said police.

After the tests, Smith allowed them to search the vehicle, and police said they found a corner bag of what they suspected was cocaine. Police said they asked Smith to remove items from his pockets, and he began to do so but then suddenly ran and threw something.

“He continued running for approximately 50 yards before giving up,” police said. “I asked Smith what he threw when he ran, and he wouldn’t give me an answer.”

Police said Smith had run around his van while fleeing, and on the ground they found a couple of pills in a bag. Police said they also found marijuana in the vehicle.

“I checked again near the van where he ran and located a larger bag of cocaine underneath the vehicle containing approximately an ounce of cocaine,” police said.

Police said lab tests later confirmed the substances to be marijuana and cocaine, and the pills were discovered to be amphetamine.

Smith has an extensive criminal history dating back to age 18. He last was convicted of felony drug sales in 2020, for which he was sentenced to serve 2 to 5 years in jail.