The officer asked him if his license was valid, to which he replied, “it should be.”

Staff report

NICEVILLE — A 23-year-old man was arrested on drug charges after he told an officer his driver’s license “should be” valid.

According to an arrest report from the Niceville Police Department, on New Year’s Day an officer pulled over a car because the driver was not wearing his seat belt. When he asked for the driver’s license, registration and proof of insurance, the man was only able to provide his registration and insurance.

The officer asked him if his license was valid, to which he replied, “it should be.”

The man’s information was run through dispatch and his license was not, in fact, valid. It had been suspended since Dec. 11, 2017.

The man appeared nervous and denied officers consent to search his car, so the officer deployed his K9 to conduct a free air sniff of the vehicle. The sniff alerted officers to the presence of narcotics. A search of the vehicle turned up a blue marijuana smoking pipe with the smell of burnt marijuana emitting from it.

The driver was arrested and charged with a moving traffic violation, drug equipment possession and probation violation.