By NELSON MORAIS

Staff Writer

Truck driver Bradley Dean Merryfield, of Cleveland, Tenn., was stopped on Interstate 81 at mile marker 21 about 11:40 p.m. on Monday and charged with DUI-1st offense, possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, and an open container of beer, according to a report by THP Trooper Preston Cox.

After Merryfield, 46, a driver for Cross Enterprises of Florida, Inc. was stopped, Cox wrote that he "smelled of alcohol." Merryfield stated he "had a few beers with dinner," according to Cox in his report.

Cox reported that Merryfield had two 12-ounce beer cans beside the driver's seat, a plastic cup one-quarter full of beer and one 12-ounce beer in a cooler on the passenger seat.

The driver "performed poorly" on a field sobriety test, according to Cox in his report.

One gram of methamphetamine and two needles were found in a black glasses container stored under an ashtray in the truck's center console, Cox reported. Also found underneath the dashboard was one bent spoon "with apparent burn marks."