never
ever
give
consent
to search.
Got it?
These guys did nothing wrong. They spent a week in jail. Some companies would can you just for missing that much work, they don't give a shit what the reason is. And here's something else for you. You can't collect damages unless there's a specific statutory provision OR if you first obtain the right from the court to sue.
It's getting easier all the time to prove that a dumbass can get a job in law enforcement.
Two New Yorkers Free After 'Drugs' Turn Out to be Candy
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Print ShareThisTwo New York men were locked up and left in a jail cell for nearly a week after police officers mistook their candy for a bag of crack.
The "drugs" were finally tested five days later and determined to be popular Coco (coconut) Candy. The charges were dropped.
The trouble began the night of Jan. 15, as José Pena, a 48-year-old plumber from the Bronx, N.Y., and his longtime pal and colleague Cesar Rodriguez, 33, were headed to a party, and decided to stop at a bodega on 181st Street and the Grand Concourse.
When they came out, cops were waiting and asked to search their Ford minivan. "I said ‘Go search.’ I even opened the door," Rodriguez told The Post.
An officer rummaged around, came out holding a "Hello Kitty" sandwich bag, and shouted "Bingo!" the men said.
"It’s only candy!" Rodriguez said, as the cops handcuffed him and Pena, and several other police cars rushed to the scene.
Rodriguez said he buys a 50-cent bag of Coco Candy, a hard coconut-based treat, almost every day. Because it easily crumbles, he puts it in a sandwich bag.
"Can you test it? Can you taste it?" Rodriguez asked the cops. "Shut up!" they replied.
"I didn’t know having candy was a crime," he said.
The men’s lawyer, Neal Wallerstein, said the cops could have realized their mistake quickly.
"That’s the reason why they have a field-test kit," he said, referring to the NYPD’s portable drug identification equipment.
But Wallerstein said cops just needed their noses.
"It smells like sugar," he said.
