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No Charges For Cop Who Baked Pot Cookies

This is kind of funny. A cop took a suspect's marijuana and baked brownies with it. He and his wife ate the brownies and thought they were dying and called 911 to report they overdosed.

The cop later resigned from the force. Some are complaining the cop wasn't charged with a crime.

Yes, it's bad to take a suspect's pot. But I don't think it warrants criminal charges. Disciplinary charges, to be sure, but the cop resigned first. And, in the grand scheme of things, it's better that someone who overdoses on drugs like heroin not to be afraid to seek medical attention. Some things are better confined to the realm of the doctor-patient privilege.

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    Hear Hear (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by kdog on Thu May 10, 2007 at 07:15:01 PM EST
    To any complainers, we don't want our doctors calling the cops on us.  Or in this case, calling the cops on the cops.  When we call 911 for medical assistance, we want medical assistance, not law enforcement assistance...right?

    The moral of the story is marijuana prohibition is as dumb as some people...

    "I think we're dying," he said. "We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do."

    Funny is right...thats classic.

    Funny is right...thats classic. (none / 0) (#10)
    by squeaky on Thu May 10, 2007 at 10:17:27 PM EST
    Totally. They imagined that they had gone to hell.

    Parent
    Don't tell him about the flashbacks. ;-) (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Edger on Thu May 10, 2007 at 07:15:58 PM EST


    It is funny (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by Deconstructionist on Fri May 11, 2007 at 07:49:07 AM EST
     but it also is serious.

      It raises several issues of importance to a criminal justice system. (In the interest of full disclosure, let me state that on several occasions I have represented  police officers accused of misconduct or accused of crimes.)

       First, at the most basic level when those charged with enforcing the law violate it that in and of itself diminishes public confidence.

       Second, the hypocricy involved does make it dfferent than when a "civilian" violates the seame law.

        third, the specific nature of this offense involves acts which "obstruct justice" as justice is defined by our laws. Wilfully destroying evidence of a crime is not a trivial matter-- even if it is a trivial crime. (As an aside, when I was kid the police in my suburban community were not above pulling people over or breaking up parties and then giving the kids the option of beig arrested or just letting the cops take the goodies. It seemed like a "win-win" proposition to choose the latter and no doubt explains the "cops always have the best weed" belief).

      Cops who like drugs have a problem. Stealing is illegal, destroying or concealing evidence is illegal, extorting drugs from people in exchange for looking the other way is illegal, and buying drugs illegally is, duh, illegal. From a cop's perspective however the latter might present the most risk of apprehansion even if it is the least serious offense.

      One of the reasons why we should not only laugh at this is that these scenarios illustrate how much power the cop on the street has far from the eyes of courts judges and lawyers. If the cop takes your weed and sends you on your way but busts someone else for the same offense that's not right in a broader sense than weed smoking.

      This cop discreation is also not limited to funny stories of cops getting better weed than they expected and melting down. If  cop give  guy  passes-- or repeated passes-- because they are an informants,  we essentially have cops conspiring with one set of bad guys to get another set  all with little or no supervision or accountability.

     This is an aspect of the "war on drugs" that is very damaging in my opinion and one that gets too little attention.

    What happened to the theft victim? (none / 0) (#1)
    by roy on Thu May 10, 2007 at 06:30:36 PM EST
    If this was just a cop who did something stupid and got egg on his face, yeah, it's pretty funny.  But if the rightful owner of the pot was convicted of a crime while a cop who stole AND possessed AND distributed AND used pot AND tried to pin it on his wife walked, well, that makes me mad.

    It the officer stole the THC directly from the (none / 0) (#2)
    by oculus on Thu May 10, 2007 at 06:46:30 PM EST
    person in unlawful possession, they both should have been charged.  If the officer stole it from the evidence locker or never turned it over, he should have been charged.  

    Doesn't (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu May 10, 2007 at 06:55:42 PM EST
    this idiot know it's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to OD on MJ?

    Mindless automatons who enforce laws about which they know NOTHING.

    First time ego death (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Thu May 10, 2007 at 07:07:43 PM EST
    scared the hell out of him. He's probably still shaking.

    Another casualty (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Thu May 10, 2007 at 07:10:29 PM EST
    in the war on drugs. LOL

    Don't panic poor baby. You'll live to bust again.

    Like everyone seems to have said in the '70s (none / 0) (#8)
    by scribe on Thu May 10, 2007 at 09:43:15 PM EST
    "Reality is for people who can't handle drugs."

    Now, tell, everyone:  when was the last time you heard that?

    And, I suppose, Mr. Ex-Cop is now facing a really sucky reality....

    If you remember them (none / 0) (#9)
    by Edger on Thu May 10, 2007 at 09:45:43 PM EST
    you weren't really there.

    Just ask Gonzo. ;-)

    Parent

    So many things wrong ... (none / 0) (#11)
    by Sailor on Thu May 10, 2007 at 10:33:58 PM EST
    ... with this I'll just point out a few. The WOD is stupider than the WOT, but c'mon, prosecute equally! If cops and rich white guys get the same penalty maybe the laws will be changed.

    If a regular citizen had done this they'd have serious problems, (don't forget about the part about the coke

    his wife, Stacy Sanchez, admitted to police investigators that on another occasion she removed cocaine from her husband's police cruiser -- drugs purportedly earmarked to train police dogs -- and used it during a three-week binge. She, too, has not been charged criminally.
    )

    But leaving the serious charges aside, the f**king humor of it kills me:

    Sanchez, a Dearborn police officer at the time, told the dispatcher he and his wife had eaten marijuana brownies and thought they had overdosed. He also says he thinks he's dead (at about 1:00 into the call) and asks the dispatcher for the score of the Red Wings game (at about 4:50 into the call).
    You just can't write stuff like that!

    I could have more to add but I'll take the goodling if I'm questioned;-)

    proving once again................ (none / 0) (#12)
    by cpinva on Thu May 10, 2007 at 11:33:20 PM EST
    you just can't fix stupid!

    "Some animals are more equal (none / 0) (#13)
    by SeeEmDee on Fri May 11, 2007 at 07:35:12 AM EST
    than others" said the Pigs in Orwell's Animal Farm.

    So...he took someone else's cannabis as evidence of a crime...didn't properly turn it in as evidence...knowingly and willfully baked brownies with it, and then ate the brownies. And he's just going to diddy-bop over the horizon with nary a scratch, when God alone knows how many lives he cheerfully helped ruin by enforcing the insane cannabis laws of this country? As they used to say in school, "What's wrong with this picture?"

    'Sauce for the goose'. Otherwise, let everybody in prison for possession out. A badge and a sidearm does not confer godhood...despite what many who possess them think. They are no less subject to the laws they break than anyone else.