In January 1998, an 18-year-old named Brian Poindexter was stopped by police on a street corner known for drug activity. Officers say they recovered a rock of suspected crack cocaine from the ground near his mouth — after a physical struggle to stop him from swallowing it.

Twenty-eight years later, Poindexter is a Brook Park city councilman and Democratic congressional candidate for Ohio's 7th District. Small world.

In the police report the arresting officer wrote that during the stop, "We fell to the ground at which time I recovered the above rock of susp. crack cocaine from the ground near his mouth." The implication is clear — Poindexter allegedly tried to destroy evidence the old-fashioned way: by eating it.

Poindexter's campaign isn't exactly handling the revelation with grace. A campaign spokesman responded with this carefully crafted statement: "Any implication that Brian has used hard drugs is false. Any suggestion otherwise is bullsh*t."

Profiles in eloquence.

The 1998 arrest isn't even the only time Poindexter has made police blotters. In 2013, he was arrested for assault after allegedly slapping a man across the face at a Cleveland Indians game. The victim declined to pursue charges at the time. But when he saw Poindexter's congressional campaign, the memory came flooding back.

"The guy who slapped me at a baseball game is running for Congress?" he told the Daily Wire. "I wouldn't want him representing me."

Poindexter is running against Republican Representative Max Miller in the 7th District. And just last month, Poindexter told voters, "I'm someone who's careful with my words. I speak from my heart." Careful with his words, maybe. Careful with what he puts in his mouth on a known drug corner — the police report suggests otherwise.

The campaign's defense strategy appears to be the classic deny-and-swear approach. No explanation for the police report. No context for why officers found suspected crack cocaine near his mouth during a struggle. Just a flat denial wrapped in profanity and a hope that voters don't read past the headline.

This is the same Democratic Party that spent years lecturing America about criminal justice reform, decriminalization, and the unfairness of drug arrests. The same party that wanted to defund the police departments that make these stops in the first place. Apparently the passion for leniency hits a little different when the arrest report has your congressional candidate's name on it.

Some things age out of relevance. A police report describing a guy trying to swallow crack isn't one of them.