I don’t care what the judge says. I don’t need a judge to tell me if a cop is on a power trip and acting improperly. Even if he did smell drugs, so the hell what? He was not being physically attacked, nor was anyone else, and he did not have a court order to physically assault the man in the hopes of finding evidence.
Three trains of pro-cop thought
1) judge is on the take or uses drugs
2) almost-racism
3) reasonable search tactic that would leave suspect fine in 10 minutes (ignoring bruises)
One should easily see from examining these threads the underlying currents in society which support the formation of the more brutal police states - there is always a portion of the population which supports authoritarian tactics, no matter what.
Even if he did smell drugs, so the hell what?
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Drugs are illegal. The cop smelled drugs. Drugs were found. There is probable cause to search and it is against the law to resist. Sounds to me like the judge doesn’t like cops and especially cops who make drug arrests. I still say the judge smokes either pot, crack or both.