James Island mailman faces second charge of sniffing canned air

A James Island letter carrier has been arrested for the second time in about a month on the charge of sniffing canned air.

Timothy Edwin Hampton, 33, of Blaze Lane, faces another count of using aromatic hydrocarbon after his Postal Service supervisor called Charleston police Tuesday.

Hampton’s arrests have come during a period in which Charleston officials considered adopting the state statute that outlaws sniffing the compressed air commonly used for cleaning electronics. City Council members passed the ordinance during a meeting last month.

Two deaths reported since 2009 in Charleston County have been attributed to huffing, according to the coroner’s office. When inhaled, the air can affect the brain, lungs and nerves, experts said, and can cause sudden death.

The incident report about Hampton’s second arrest said officers were summoned around 12:40 p.m. Tuesday to a Lowe’s Home Improvement store on Daniel Ellis Drive.

In the parking lot, Hampton’s boss at the Postal Service said Hampton recently had been cleared for work after he was arrested in early November.

His supervisor told a police officer Tuesday that she had found Hampton slumped in the driver’s seat of a car with a white canister in his lap.

It was not known how Hampton’s boss had come across the scene or whether Hampton was supposed to be working at the time. A post office is located about a half-mile away.

The officer found the 10-ounce container of RCA dusting air underneath the tire of a pickup parked near the car. Hampton acknowledged that the can was his and that he had consumed its contents, the report stated.

He had bought it from the Lowe’s store, according to the report.

Hampton told police that he had just gotten out of rehabilitation.

On Nov. 2, officers found him in a sport utility vehicle on James Island with three cans of canned air inside. At the time, he said he had been sniffing several cans a day for a few months.

Hampton remained jailed Wednesday in lieu of a $1,000 bail.

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.