Posted on 08/19/2009 8:53:20 PM PDT by ellery
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A man is suing the Kissimmee Police Department for an arrest over mints. When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag, they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him.
May told Eyewitness News they wouldn't let him out of jail for three months until tests proved the so-called drugs were candy.
May said he was just minding his business, driving home from work, when a Kissimmee police officer pulled him over near 192.
"I don't know how it occurred," he said.
May was pulled over for an expired tag on his car. When the officer walked up to him, he noticed something white in May's mouth. May said it was breath mints, but the officer thought it was crack cocaine.
"He took them out of my mouth and put them in a baggy and locked me up [for] possession of cocaine and tampering with evidence," May explained.
The officer claimed he field-tested the evidence and it tested positive for drugs. The officer said he saw May buying drugs while he was stopped at an intersection. He also stated in his report May waived his Miranda rights and voluntarily admitted to buying drugs.
May said that never happened.
"My client never admitted he purchased crack cocaine. Why would he say that?" attorney Adam Sudbury said.
May was thrown in jail and was unable to bond out for three months. He didn't get out until he received a letter from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office that test results showed no drugs were found.
"While I was sitting in jail I lost my apartment. I lost everything," he said.
While May was behind bars, the Kissimmee Police Department towed his car and auctioned it off. He lost his job and was evicted. Now May is suing the city for false arrest and false imprisonment. He wants to be compensated for the loss of his car and job.
May's attorney and the city of Kissimmee discussed a possible settlement last year, but failed to reach an agreement.
ping
Government Gone Wild.
I hope this guy gets $100,000,000.00 and the cop goes to jail for 25 years in general population.
Compensated? He!!, they should give him the numbers to the Mega Lotto!
in central florida he’s lucky he didn’t wind up w/65 slugs in him.
Don't settle pal....Sue these government freaks till it hurts...
It’s pathetic that you are left hoping that the officer is really that dumb, instead of that corrupt.
Give him the Mayors home, and the police chiefs salary for 60 years. Give the mayor and police chief Burger King applications, and tell them to get it.
Note that they also seized and auctioned his car before he was even tried, much less convicted. Good thing he was only renting — I expect they would have auctioned off his house and everything in it, too.
Suing the city will just get passed on to the taxpayers. The cop and his superiors need to be personally sued.
I hope this man ends up owning Florida.
There is more to this story than meets the eye.
If I am being pulled over for anything, it is not the time to pop a few breath mints. Not unless I am covering up something on my breath I don’t want the officer to smell.
And, if I have just put one in my mouth prior to the stop, it is going to get swallowed, just as a normal part of being polite, long before the officer comes to my window.
Where are all the “If you have nothing to hide what are you worried about” jerks now?
Bet me...
Here is what ya do.
Give this guy a 10 million dollar cash award, and then to pay for it, reduce the salaries of every single over paid government employee in the city, and as a bonus, fire the cop involved, and cut the police chiefs and mayors salary in half.
Do it!
“Not unless I am covering up something on my breath I don’t want the officer to smell.”
Yep. That would be me too. Except I wouldn’t swallow it or spit it out, I keep it there to keep doing its job.
Oh, you see, I like a good cigar, and those things give you nasty breath. It is considered polite to keep breath mints handy for afterward.
This could have easily been me.
Cigars are still legal, right?
Agreed, the cop and everyone above him should lose everything they have, but if the taxpayers feel the heat they will start making sure this crap doesn’t happen again.
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