At first blush, it sounds like a joke. But as you read more of the story, the humor fades. The punchline of the story is that a 64-year-old man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine while armed with a weapon.
The reality: police had mistaken the crumbled glaze from a doughnut for meth. The man had merely eaten a doughnut and some of its glaze had failed to the floor of his car. As he pulled out of a convenience store, he was pulled over by a police officers who said he not come to a complete stop and that he was going 42 in a 30 mph zone.
When the officers checked the man’s Florida driver’s license, she noticed that he had a concealed weapon permit. He said, yes, he had a pistol with him, so she asked him to step out of the vehicle for her safety. The officers then asked if the man’s vehicle could be searched. He said sure.
After a thorough search of the car, the officers asked, “You want to tell me about what we found?”
Puzzled, he said there was nothing to find. The officers pointed out suspicious white crystals in the vehicle. “That’s glaze from a Krispy Kreme doughnut!” he protested.
But a roadside test showed that the substance tested positive for methamphetamine — and the man was arrested.
Further testing at a lab determined that the crystals were indeed not meth.
The bottom line: the man recently settled with the city of Orlando for $37,500. The question remains about whether the tourist town learned anything from the incident. Its police officers continue to use the narcotics test kit that returned the false positive.
This is just an example of the kinds of mistakes that happen in police work. What appears to be true at the time of arrest can turn out to be something else entirely.
An attorney experienced in criminal defense can help you fight for truth, your rights and your freedom.