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Title: Man spends 3 months in jail when police mistake drywall powder for cocaine
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017 ... p&utm_campaign=ts&utm_medium=2
Published: Jun 28, 2017
Author: Ray Downs
Post Date: 2017-06-28 01:04:34 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 40
Comments: 4

June 28 (UPI) -- Florida police put an innocent man in jail for three months after they mistook drywall powder for cocaine powder.

Karlos Cash was pulled over by Oviedo, Fla. Police in March for a traffic infraction. But the police officer saw white powder around the floorboard area and suspected it of being cocaine.

Cash, who is a handyman, tried to explain that the white powder was drywall powder, which probably got on his clothes when he was working and fell onto the floorboard.

However, the officer conducted a "field test" of the powder and it tested positive as cocaine.

"I know for a fact (that) it's drywall because I'm a handyman," Cashe told WFTV. "I said that continuously during the arrest stop.

Cash, who was on probation for marijuana and cocaine charges stemming from 2015, was arrested for cocaine possession and placed in jail until lab tests of the disputed substance were done. He was ineligible for bail because he was on probation.

It took 90 days for the lab results to be completed and Cash was proven right: The substance was, indeed, drywall powder.

"I sat there 90 days knowing I was innocent," Cashe said.

Roadside field tests have been criticized for their inaccuracy.

For example, some field tests use a chemical called cobalt thiocyanate that turns blue when it comes in contact with cocaine. But the chemical also turns blue when exposed to about 80 other compounds, including acne medication, household cleaners, and other legal, everyday substances, according to a ProPublica investigation on the inaccuracy of the roadside field tests.

The roadside drug tests often compel a person to plead guilty for drug possession even when they're innocent.

In 2016, the Houston Chronicle found 298 cases between 2014 and 2014 in which a person pleaded guilty for possession after a roadside test came up with a false positive.

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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)

City police gotta pay up in these cases. It's the only way to give them an incentive to curb these false imprisonments.

Pinguinite  posted on  2017-06-28   1:55:13 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: Tatarewicz (#0) (Edited)

It took 90 days for the lab results to be completed and Cash was proven right: The substance was, indeed, drywall powder.

=======================================

If Cash would have paid some 'cash' under the table cash he only would have spent a few hours in jail, if any at all.

This is the way of a 3rd world nation.

U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY

HAPPY2BME-4UM  posted on  2017-06-28   6:58:20 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: Pinguinite (#1)

City police gotta pay up in these cases. It's the only way to give them an incentive to curb these false imprisonments.

What a damnable shame that any of our decent, law-abiding, U.S.Citizens have many reasons to be afraid of our fellow-citizens whom we pay to protect us. Government seems to have its own reason not to rectify that atrocity...

"The 'uniter' has brought the entire world together - to despise and deride us." Lod.

Bub  posted on  2017-06-28   7:57:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Bub (#3)

Don't know how heroin reacts to acid but a couple of drops of battery acid would get drywall fizzing. Flat-footers should be able to make simple on-the-spot checks, but maybe too much to expect of today's "elbows."

Tatarewicz  posted on  2017-06-29   2:31:59 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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