All Donald May wanted was fresh breath. Instead, he got three months in the slammer. When an officer in Kissimmee, Florida pulled May over for expired plates, he saw a white mint in his mouth. The officer said it looked like crack cocaine and had him spit it out. He then claimed that he field tested the mint, which showed it was crack cocaine. It took three months for the test results to be completed on the breath mints and to clear him as having candy rather than cocaine in his mouth.
There is no report of any discipline ordered for an officer who reportedly said that he field tested a candy that tested positive as crack cocaine. I
The officer said later that May confessed to buying crack cocaine, an assertion that both May and his attorney insist is ridiculous and untrue. During his incarceration, May lost his apartment and his car was auctioned off by the police.
I can only imagine what May told the hardcore cons on the cellblock as to why he is in the slammer: felonious use of breath mints. One would think that officers in Kissimmee would be more appreciative of fresh breath. As all, Certs asks customers “If he kissed you once, will he kiss you again?”
He is now wisely suing the city for false arrest and false imprisonment.
It turns out the the mints were not even Frisk mints, which advertise “Don’t Be Afraid to Open Your Mouth.” Just tell that to Donald May.
I am still hoping that they were Irony Mints.
For the full story, click here.
OFF TOPIC, but not really as it involves forensic analysis.
“Writing style fingerprint tool easily fooled
14:40 19 August 2009 by Colin Barras
Historians, literary detectives and even courts of law rely on methods that identify the author of a text by their writing style. But a new study suggests that some of these so-called stylometry techniques are easily fooled, even by people without linguistic or literary training.”
The rest of the article is here:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17639-writing-style-fingerprint-tool-easily-fooled.html
Radley Balko has additional information. the police auctioned the man’s car and he lost his apartment.
http://www.theagitator.com/2009/08/19/man-gets-three-months-for-possession-of-breath-mints/.
I’ve addressed this issue before. The officer involved ought to serve the same sentence that the victim served, no questions asked. Then, he should be tried for criminal fraud and brought before an employment board, or whatever is proper in his department, as a precursor to firing.
The victim? He’s entitled to a public apology and financial recompense for false imprisonment.
How about some Dallas Cheese? OMG
I can only imagine what the charges would have been had Mr. May been eating chocolate.
This story is just as crazy – Professor Turley should look at this one
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Womans-House-Mistakenly-Auctioned-by-Bank-53583357.html?yhp=1
You know times are tough when people are getting kicked out of their house when it’s not even for sale.
That’s what happened to Anna Ramirez after she found all of her stuff out on the front lawn of her Homestead home last week and a strange man demanding she get out of his newly purchased house.
The eviction came after Ramirez’s home was mistakenly auctioned off to the highest bidder by her bank, Washington Mutual. Usually, you get a warning before you get the boot. A foreclosure letter. Maybe a sign saying your house is up for sale. Not Ramirez, who found her belongings bashed and battered in the street.
Henry, his time in jail was probably like the time Arlo got called for his draft physical:
I finally came to the see the last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there, and I walked up and said, “What do you want?”
He said, “Kid, we only got one question. Have you ever been arrested?”
And I proceeded to tell him the story of the Alice’s Restaurant Massacre, with full orchestration and five part harmony and stuff like that and all the phenome… – and he stopped me right there and said, “Kid, did you ever go to court?”
And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, “Kid, I want you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W …. NOW kid!!”
And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W’s where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly looking people on the bench there.
Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me!
And they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean ‘n’ ugly ‘n’ nasty ‘n’ horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me and said, “Kid, whad’ya get?”
I said, “I didn’t get nothing, I had to pay $50 and pick up the garbage.”
He said, “What were you arrested for, kid?”
And I said, “Littering.”
And they all moved away from me on the bench there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said, “And creating a nuisance.”
And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench.
http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml
“I can only imagine what May told the hardcore cons on the cellblock as to why he is in the slammer: felonious use of breath mints.”
I know that that is a joke, but, in a sane country, “felonious use of cocaine” would sound as ridiculous as “felonious use of breath mints.” How can it be a crime to put something in your own body? The same right to privacy that gives women the right to control their bodies and choose abortions ought to give all of us the right to eat, drink, smoke, or inject anything we want.
Breath mints aren’t good for you either, by the way, with all that sugar. If the government can make it a crime for us to use cocaine, then the government can make it a crime for us to use breath mints too.
Some police agencies do have field tests for narcotics. It’s a usually a little vile with sensitive liquid that changes color in response to the test. But this should have been inventoried by the cop. I smell law suite. Horah!!
This is the case of DWP, driving while poor, rather than the usual DWB, driving while black. How do you “field test” for crack? This is a very sad case that was loaded with presumptions on the officer’s part, that weren’t true. If you start with the belief “that everyone is guilty” as many officers do, you get this kind of miscarriage of justice. He certainly seems that he could prove tortious behavior and money damages. He deserves them and the officers need some reeducation.