If there were any exonerating evidence I think rather than just skipping that part about PCP the OP article would have proudly proclaimed it and then pointed out it was misidentified.
But then you know what? Perhaps you have a point. They could have mistyped PCP for PCB because the passenger had a plastic water bottle from the 1980 in his pocket or perhaps it was PVC piping in his pocket, or PDP ... He had a PDP 11 in his pocket. The list of speculation goes on and on. Good thing I carry an Occam’s razor in my pocket ... they’re perfectly legal and can’t be mistaken for anything else.
Nobody knows it’s misidentified until a full lab is done, so they can’t proclaim what hasn’t been established yet.
The only thing we do know is that the husband was released without charges, but the articles are curiously mum on the passenger.
The drugs are red herring anyway. Doesn’t matter what the instigation for the arrest was or whether it was a reasonable arrest. There is still no excuse for the dog to have been left by the side of the road.
If the story was fabricated, I’m pretty sure the HPD would be publicizing that loudly, not mumbling about how an investigation could take six months.