Via The Agitator…
In the New York Post: Two Bronx men free after ‘drugs’ turn out to be candy
Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair of cops 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, 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.
Lesson #1: Never, ever, ever, ever, agree to a search. If you’re guilty, you’re helping them catch you. If you’re innocent, you’re wasting your time, you’re taking a chance since they aren’t required to fix anything they break, you’re leaving yourself open for being charged for something you didn’t know about that fell out of a friend’s pocket, and you’ve got the possibility that a couple of morons will think your coconut candy is crack and throw you in jail for a week.
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. […]
“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 Bronx District Attorney’s office confirmed that the case was dropped after authorities realized there were no drugs. The NYPD had no comment.
Today’s drug war. Guilty until proven innocent.
Check out some of the comments…
why should the cops be suspended???? if it looks like crack and is in a plastic bag they should be arrested regardless, if they didnt arrest them and it was crack and they sold it to one of your kids you liberals would be going nuts on the cops, and as for tasting it?? wtf if some1 asked me to taste crack and risk my life with all the chemicals its cut down with i’d tell them to screw themselves its my life or thiers, this is a no brainer, both men arrested and have the alleged drugs sent to the lab for testing
Lock em” up anyhows……
Just because they didn’t find drugs on these two this time doesn’t mean that they’re not guilty…
Lesson #2: There are a few real knuckledraggers who read the NY Post.
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Duncan: Exactly. Embarassment aside, in some states “marital aids” like that are illegal and thus contraband. Dildos are illegal here in Texas. And I’m not talking about some 400 year old wacky law right above the law that makes it illegal to name a brown cow “Mary” and right below the law that makes it illegal to use mops with handles longer than 4 feet 5 inches.
The bottom line is most people have no freakin clue what’s illegal and what’s not, and by lunchtime on a typical weekday you’ve already committed one crime. That being the case, why would anyone let the police search your car, home, office, etc. when you don’t have to? Most people think they either don’t have a choice or that it’s the “nice” thing to do and as such the cop will just give them a warning and let them go if they actually find anything.
The idiots will do stupid things and get themselves arrested through their own stupidity. Everyone else should use their common sense.
What amazes me is how many people consent to searches when they DO known they have drugs – a LOT of drugs – in their car. I’ve had clients with POUNDS of marijuana consent to searches.
Pena and Rodriguez should have stuck with popsicles. At least that way, the evidence would have melted before it reached the evidence vault.
Hey BruceM thanks for all the legal advice.Ultimately its up to the individual(and their wallet) as to allowing a search or not…that aside…I’d like to answer a question of yours.IMHO.
Bruce M:”In my experience, the people who are marijuana users are always the dumbest, with the least common sense.”
“What is it about marijuana and cars? Does the drug only work in automobiles?”
First…Yes many people I have known who smoke alot(Chronic) dont think , its like a drunk being violent from drinking too much, chronics get too laid back.
Second..Cars. I have found many who get busted in their cars is because like alcohol, some just find it’fun’. The other thing I have found, its easier for one to smoke a splif in the car because at home(and apt or parents house,pissy wife..sorry gals) the smell is too hard to cover up.
Just my thoughts.
Just Me: Pot people seem to always keep pot in their cars whether they use it there or not. It’s like their car is their stash. Maybe they hide it in their car from their parents or from their friends (so their friends don’t use it, since pot people would assume their friends would have no problem with them using all of their pot, permission aside).
Drunk drivers are different. They rarely have alcohol in the car. Most of the time they merely got pulled over for something else and the cop either smelled alcohol, or the cop just asked “have you been drinking?” as a standard question and most people will volunteer the fact that they “only had 2 or 3 drinks with dinner” and then you have a DWI arrest, intoxicated or not.
Drunk driving cases where the person is drinking AND driving at the same time are extremely rare. I’ve never had one. Sure they happen but more often in comedy movies. It’s funny to see someone driving and chugging out of a bottle of vodka at the same time. But in real life even the alcoholics are smart enough to not do that. They also know about open container laws and find it’s not hard to keep open bottles of alcohol out of their cars. But pot people seem to have a special relationship between their drug and their car. Different than users of any other drug.
Yeah it’s up to the individual to decide whether to allow a search, but there is never a reason to allow one. Money has nothing to do with the equation. And there’s most certainly no “really well hidden” exception to this bit of legal advice. It’s beyond legal advice, it’s simply not giving the police a freebee by needlessly waiving one of your constitutional rights for nothing in return. And no matter what, you get nothing in return, exception (and quite often bullshit) stories aside. Yes there’s a chance the cop will find your pot stash, start talking to you about how great and wonderful pot is, and become your new pot smoking buddy – bringing great stuff from the police department evidence locker. Yeah, there’s a chance of that, there’s also a chance you might win the lottery five times in a row, but when you hear stuff like that, it’s most likely not true, and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. If they’re asking for consent, it means they’re not going to search without it (again, crazy exceptions aside). So no reason to waive a right for no reason. Any “reason” the cop may try to give you is bullshit.
@brucem
perhaps you have such a low opinion of “potheads” because you are only dealing with the stupid ones who actually *do* get caught. for the record (no pun intended) — that fate befalls only about 3 percent of (admitted) past year pot smokers.
a very small percentage of “stoners” fit the stereotypes — the rest of them are almost completely invisible to society. indeed, they are so invisible that apparently the only way to detect them is through testing their piss.
Brian: I don’t consider people who occasionally smoke pot to be “stoners” or “potheads” … just like I don’t consider people who have an occasional glass of wine or beer to be alcoholics or drunkards. Yes, insofar as I do a lot of criminal defense I see my share of pot users who got caught. But I went to college. I went to law school. As such, I’ve seen and known plenty of people who smoked the occasional pot who were not completely incompetent idiot-morons.
I personally just don’t get pot. I’ve tried it (tried all different types when I went to Holland) and the most I ever felt was a subtle feeling that my eyeballs were a little heavy-ish. And I smoked a lot more than the people I was with. Maybe I don’t have cannabinoid receptors or something. Who knows. I just think it’s a worthless recreational drug. Really good, creamy, thick ice cream is far more enjoyable.
But to each their own. If pot is somehow orgasmic to you, then by all means enjoy it. My problem with pot users is that so many of them think they’re so much better (morally superior) than all other drug users, they think they’re fundamentally different, and they are basically full-fledged drug warriors who merely want an exception made for their own personal drug of choice… to them it’s absolutely right that every other drug is criminalized and people who use non-pot drugs should be locked up (you know, for the children). Add to that the fact that, in my experience, heavy pot users are nearly always complete morons who lack all common sense, and I feel I have good reason to be presumptively biased against such “stoners” and “potheads”. I fully support the legalization of marijuana, of course. I just don’t think marijuana is different or special. I’d rather be around a bunch of heroin junkies than pot junkies (though I’d rather be around a bunch of pot junkies than alcohol junkies). The drug war needs to end, and it needs to end completely — not on a drug-by-drug basis.
Pot clearly effects people differently. My theory, based on a lifetime of observation, is that pot does not make people dumb, but the dumber people are the more they enjoy pot. Stupidity and the euphoric effects of marijuana are directly correlated. A smart person won’t find marijuana all that great, but a dumb person will love it, and a truly idiotic person will think it’s the greatest thing ever. I have not known too many smart people who smoked a lot of pot. In fact, during 4 years of college I can think of only one person I knew who got really good grades and was truly smart and really loved pot. But in retrospect, he may have been using the pot as a means of getting laid. He smoked a lot and made a big deal about how much he smoked (despite always having a 4.0 GPA)… maybe it was just a social thing for him. He was always hooking up with the cute little dumb pothead chicks. Or maybe he was really smart and really did love pot – a rare exception, perhaps? Who knows…
Barry Cooper Says Consent to Searches
If you’ve hidden your stash in a hard to find location — like taught earlier in this DVD — give the officer permission to search if he asks. Here’s why: One hundred times out of one hundred, when somebody refused consent to search to me, they always had something in their vehicle they did not want me to find. It was usually drugs. Sometimes it might be a Playboy magazine or something of that nature. But there was always something they did not want me to see. Law enforcement officers know this.
Bruce stop getting peiple jailed, you a nark or just a moron? Oh in Texass, that explains it. Nuther shitkicker for Booshie. Bruce or Barry? Junkie or x cop? hummm Oh yea freakies real smart taking legal advice from an internet troll claiming to be a lawyer. Last time he was a doctor, what next astranaut? Government isp means he’s just a dippy Texas nark. Telling soccer moms heroin is the same as hemp. Another moneyslut for geeesuz claiming he’s an atheist. Just a liar to me but you might have to read about it elsewhere. Same link. I don’t give legal advise boosie, that was Barry’s advise to grant consent. But you lie about so much I guess to you it makes no difference. Yes its true I care less about junkies like boosie. But don’t hold your smelly breath that it will be legalized. Boosie with artificial insemination I know, but if you ever have kids god forbid. Don’t advise them heroin is the same as pot. They won’t last til high school. Stop killing Americans with junior high fables and gossip. Or pretending to be a lawyer at the Alamo. Go Ozzie! Piss on it again! Slavery is alive and well thanks to lawyers. Laboratory made heroin and god grown pot are not the same even for moron utopiterrorists and their lackey’s. Stop lying boosie. Fuckin Hypocrites claim one thing and keep doing the opposite. As for me being here if and when Nixon’s lie is removed from the books. None of your business. Get a life and stop trolling me stalker. Or waste your time, no one cares.
So you think prohibition’s working eh? Thank a lawyer.
Corporate lawyers bastardize the Constitution for profits.
Go King Henry!
“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me
and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…
Corporations have bee enthroned,
an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people
until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands
and the Republic is destroyed.”
~ Abraham Lincoln, November 12, 1864
“Italian fascism and German Nazism had their admirers within the U.S. business community and the corporate owned press. Bankers, publishers, and industrialists, including the likes of Henry Ford, traveled to Rome and Berlin to pay homage, receive medals, and strike profitable deals. Many did their utmost to advance the Nazi war effort, sharing military industrial secrets and engaging in secret transactions with the Nazi government, even after the United States entered the war. During the 1920s and early 1930s, major publications like Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, Saturday Evening Post, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Christian Science Monitor hailed Mussolini as the man who rescued Italy from anarchy and radicalism.”
~ Parenti/BlackshirtsReds
Whom Did the Fascists Get Support?
Oh yea, tell these thugs no consent. Listen to the corporate fool.
You have rights damnit! Then tell em heroin is the same as pot.
I’m sure they understand. All lumping drugs with Ganja does is scare soccer moms. Good tactic if you’re a narko drug worrier.
Miami Police Mace and Beat People for no reason U2b
Miami Police mace and beat residents of a neighborhood that happened to be near protests that took place earlier in the day against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas).
Watch how, without saying a word, police mace and beat anyone who approaches.
Barry Cooper Says Consent to Searches
Fucking Lawyers!
US TX: Manuel Barraza’s Law Career At Stake
EL PASO — Manuel Barraza got little attention during the three months he presided over a state drug court. Now he is getting more publicity than he ever wanted by becoming the first El Paso judge in 14 years to stand trial on criminal charges. Federal prosecutors allege that Barraza attempted to trade judicial favors for sex and money.
BruceM: I dont consent to search. Not only because,Younever know whats in your car, but becuase it is my constitutional right. Im not a ninny that has been conditioned to just go alone with the program. I dont feel I should have to be searched…for any reason. If they are going to make my life unconfortable, I see no reason to make their job easier.
If more people would stand up for our constitution we may not be here in this fight right now.
…just go along* with the program…
Just Me: that’s exactly what I was saying earlier, almost word for word.
But some pothead idiot thinks there’s an exception for never consenting to a search when “your drugs are really really well-hidden.” This is typical stupid-person logic. And he keeps repeating it because he heard it from another pothead idiot.
Moderation isnt just an alcohol only idea.I think thats the ‘fear’ of many against legalization, that people wont moderate. They will , just as we see people moderate with alcohol. Not everyone will,but that % is small. Besides, Which do you fear more? A violent drunk or a couch potato pothead? Id much rather talk to the pothead.
The cops should have tasted it. I watched Jack Webb on the “Dragnet” TV show put his finger in a baggie, taste it, and declare it was “pure acid”.
That’s Old School detection.
with any given drug, about 11% of people are unable to use it in moderation. 89% are.
pvt pyle:
Awesome. What hack writers! The detective was probably telling his arrestee he was going to “take a trip downtown,” but in real life, the detective would be taking a trip of his own.
And what a trip it would be! If you could actually put a substantial amount on your finger and lick it, you probably wouldn’t come down for 3 days, if ever. And this detective had so much experience with acid he could recognize the taste!
And whoever heard of powdered acid?
Ddc. I wish you wouldn’t act like this.
NeverGetBusted Tip: What Not To Do
Barry Cooper
When I was a kop, assessing motorists to decide if I needed to detain them longer for a closer inspection, I always considered the following behaviors red flags.
Do not make any of the following moves and your chances of a
search and arrest will greatly decrease.
1. Never say you are in a hurry. Interdiction officers are trained to be
suspicious of this.
2. Never say you are going to the hospital to visit a sick relative or
friend unless you can prove it.
3. Avoid any religious talk that focuses on making you appear to be a
good guy. i.e. “Of course I don’t have drugs officer, I’m a Christian.”
4. Do not “name drop.” Explaining that your neighbor is a judge or kop causes officers to be suspicious.
5. Never touch you hand to your head. This is one of the FBI’s top three indicators of deception. If your face or head itches, don’t scratch it, especially when answering a question. Do not groom yourself or adjust your cap.
6. Never repeat the question back to the officer as part of your answer. This behavior is interpreted as you stalling for time to think of a lie. i.e. Officer: “Where are you going?” Motorist: “Where am I going?”
7. Never tell an officer you are going somewhere when your passenger explains you are going somewhere else. Make certain your stories match.
8. When explaining anything to a kop, never extend your arms with the palms of your hands facing upward. This is another sign of deception.
9. Never be “sticky sweet.” This makes officers suspicious.
10. Stay as calm as you can. It’s hard to relax when being faced by a kop, but it is well worth it.
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