BREAKING NEWS: Man Shot, then Arrested for Alleged Meth Possession in Lebec

In yet another story of "things drifting in off the Grapevine" to our Mountain Communities, on Thursday, Sept. 17, at about 1 p.m., deputies and California Highway Patrol officers were dispatched to the 500 block of Wainright Court in Lebec to investigate a shooting, according to Kern County Sheriff's Sergeant Mark Brown of the Frazier Park substation. When they arrived they spoke to Michael Milam, who had numerous birdshot-sized wounds on his back and buttocks, but refused emergency medical treatment.

Milam said he was shot the night before in a park in the Bakersfield area. He said he was driving to the Los Angeles area when his car broke down on southbound Interstate-5. He said he hitchhiked to Lebec and asked a store clerk to call an ambulance, but to not contact the police.

The deputy confirmed that a shooting did occur at Hart Park the night before and Milam was involved. The deputy transported Milam back to his vehicle and conducted a consensual search of the vehicle, looking for further evidence of the shooting. The deputy found a hypodermic needle filled with a clear fluid, suspected to be methamphetamine, and a bloody shirt.

The deputy arrested Milam for possession of methamphetamine and transported him to Kern Medical Center for medical treatment.

Sgt. Brown said that the man was not a resident of Lebec. "He was very uncooperative and we do not know if he lives in Bakersfield or L.A., but he was just passing through Lebec," Brown said.
 

This is part of the September 18, 2009 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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