Well, yes and no.
When the cop asked how he was that night, he replied that he was high.
Oh? You say he actually said "Hi!" -- as in "Hello"?
I'll grant that it says "Hi" on the kid's typed transcript. But, I've got two ears, and I happen to know that the words "Hi" and "High" are the SAME spoken phoneme.
Furthermore, the idea that he said "Hi" (rather than "High") makes no sense in the context. If I ask you "Do you know what time it is?" and you reply "Hi!", it would make just as much sense as for him to reply "Hi!" to the cop's question.
So, from the cop's perpective, right then and there, the ONLY thing that made ANY sense -- and, it made perfect sense -- was to accept that the kid said he was high, when asked how he was that evening.
It all went downhill from there -- rapidly (and, by-design, IMO) -- and I suspect that within thirty seconds, the cop was on the defensive, too busy trying to keep up with the kid (and his "team"? coaching him via wireless earplug, perhaps?) -- too busy to even remember that, hey, this kid said he was HIGH!
In short, we've got a bad situation being challenged via a disingenuous tactic. NEITHER side has anything to be proud of.
Wow now he had a wireless ear piece. What's next, black helicopters hovering just out of sight??? Do you make your own tin foil hats or do you have them custom tailored????
It makes exact sense. "How you doing" is a meaningless phrase that people say when they greet each other. They really don't mean "how are you doing," because they don't want an answer like, "well, actually, my herpes is flaring up, and wow! let me tell you, that sure is rough!"
Instead, they expect an answer back like "hello," or "hi" or "hey."
In fact, I can't tell you how many times in a typical day that I'll pass someone in the hall and respond to a "how you doing" with a "hey."
"Hi[gh]"
Logical question for cop should be "Did you just say you were high?"