Putnam County Sheriff's Department

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith announces the implementation of a new program called “Takedown Tuesday”. Utilizing social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, Sheriff Smith is enlisting the help of the public in locating and apprehending people who are the subjects of arrest warrants or bench warrants throughout Putnam County.

Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that an investigation of suspicious materials found within a vehicle has forced the temporary closure of Route 52 in the Hamlet of Carmel this afternoon.

At about 2:15 P.M. today (Thursday), the Sheriff’s Office received a report of an erratic driver of a car traveling southbound on Route 52 in Carmel. A few minutes later, Deputy Sheriff William Quick saw the car as it was passing the Putnam County Courthouse in the Carmel Hamlet and pulled the driver over.

When he approached the car, the deputy saw that the male driver, who was alone in the vehicle, had an unidentified red-colored liquid on his skin and clothes and had numerous electrical wires protruding from beneath his clothing. The man was also wearing metal knuckles on one hand. Visible within the passenger compartment of the car were jugs of unidentified liquids, a battery-pack, and walkie-talkie radios.