Anxious citizens called Manteca Police at 2 p.m. Monday when they spotted a man and a woman going through a purse in the shadows of a vacant structure at the northeast corner of Yosemite Avenue and Fremont Street.

Shawna Overton, 30, of Manteca and her male friend were detained and placed in separate police cars until officers could determine the scope of their activities.

Officers said Overton became difficult to control and it took two patrolmen to place her in handcuffs.  She was charged with possession of a hypodermic needle, giving a false name and age and resisting arrest.  Police said they learned she lives at a motel on Moffat Boulevard.

While the man was released, she was taken to the police department to be further searched by a female officer, police said.  Numerous credit cards were also located in the purse, but it wasn’t immediately determined if they all belonged to her.