Man Jailed for Three Months for Chewing Breath Mints

[theogt]

Mints Believed To Be Crack Land Man In Jail

Posted: 5:27 pm EDT August 17, 2009
Updated: 11:30 am EDT August 19, 2009

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.

.....

"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.

http://www.wftv.com/news/20435114/detail.html

 

[Bob Sacamano]

This is a legit case if I ever saw one.

 

[TheCount]

Doesn't pass the sniff test, something ain't right.

 

[Rynie]

Yeah. That's BOGUS as ****!

 

[Passepartout]

That is the "story" of the day LOL!

 

[Hoofbite]

Gotta call BS.

Gotta be more to the story somewhere.

No way in hell it takes 3 months to determine if someone is a crack user. Even if he came up positive, they can never actually say that he hadn't used at an earlier time and was really chewing a mint.

If this really happened, this dude just cashed in.

 

[theogt]

Gotta call BS.

I'm sure he got smart with the cop after being accused and "got what he deserved."

Here's the complaint filed in the law suit. He'll be up locked up longer if it turns out he's lying. Of course, the lawyer could be in trouble as well if he's aware of anything that would lead him to believe it's false.

http://www.wftv.com/pdf/20432873/detail.html

 

[CF74]

They can't hold you for 3 months without any real evidence, to much info is missing in this one...

 

[theogt]

They can't hold you for 3 months without any real evidence

Hence, the lawsuit.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Isn't this a serious habeus corpus violation if true?

 

[hairic]

Hey, that's not how it's supposed to work. Not the asset forfeitures, that's business as usual, but going beyond detainment (held 24-72 hours) to being jailed without cause.

Also, random but relevant to injustice stories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_phenomenon

Took a while, but found another link: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/dpp/news/osceola_news/081809_Man_sues_city_over_wrongful_arrest