Police: Coralville Man Attempted to Swallow Bag of Cocaine While Struggling with Officers

A Coralville man who had sold drugs to officers previously in a controlled buy in January attempted to eat and then throw away his cocaine while being arrested on Saturday.

According to an Iowa City Police complaint, Kenneth Rayfield James, 32, a.k.a. N.O. sold drugs to officers who were using serialized money on Jan. 8 in Iowa City. 

James was later arrested on March 2, at 10:55 p.m. near his residence on Boston Way in Coralville, according to a Coralville Police complaint. According to the complaint, James "fought with police and attempted to swallow the suspected cocaine" during the arrest. After spitting out the bag of a white powdery substance that later field-tested for cocaine, he attempted to throw it under a car during the struggle.

James was previously convicted for possession of a controlled substance on Oct. 10, 2007 and  Oct. 16, 2009.

James was booked into the Johnson County Jail Sunday morning at 12:30 a.m., according to online jail records. He was charged with third-or-subsequent-offense possession of a controlled substance, a Class D felony and a Class C felony for allegedly dealing the cocaine. He currently is still in the jail on $19,000 bail.