WINONA, Minn. – A Winona woman had two run-ins with the law within two hours overnight — one drug-related and perhaps the second run-in too. The troubled night for Heather Lynn Meinke, 31, began about 12:05 a.m. near the East End marina.
Episode 1: A police officer decided to check out a car parked suspiciously in a dark secluded area. Two people were inside. So too were scattered hypodermic needles, which tested positive for meth residue. Also in the car were cut-off straws that often are make-shift devices for smoking and snorting. In a purse the officer found a baggie with a pink alprazolam pill, a Schedule 4 prescription drug. Meinke admitted the purse was hers, the officer said.
Episode 2: About 1:45 anther officer, on patrol a few blocks away, witnessed an erratic incident A car braked to a stop a Mankato Avenue intersection, blocking traffic. The car honked three times. A man in the car threw a cell phone out a window Then the two people, a man and a woman, clamored out. The man picked up the phone and handed it to the woman. The officer went to check what was going on. The woman, who was Meinke, was not in good shape, the officer said: Her breathing was sporadic, her conversation difficult. A second officer with drug-testing certification was summoned and took a urine sample, which was sent to the state crime lab. Pending an evaluation of the sample, Meinke was released.