Man arrested after cops mistook doughnut glaze for meth gets $37,500 from Orlando
David HarrisOrlando Sentinel
The City of Orlando paid $37,500 to a man to settle a lawsuit after police officers arrested him for what they thought was meth but was actually tiny flakes of glaze from a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Daniel Rushing sued the city after a field test incorrectly showed he had drugs and he was arrested and taken to jail.
He received the check in the mail last week, he said.
Rushing said he was pleased with the outcome and hopes he can get his record expunged.
He said he’s been trying to start a security business, but to no avail.
“I haven’t been able to work,” Rushing said. “People go online and see that you’ve been arrested.”
The city declined to comment on the case Thursday.
Orlando police officers pulled him over in 2015 after police say he failed to come to a full stop before pulling out of a 7-Eleven store on West Colonial Drive. Police had been watching the store because of complaints about drug activity, according to an internal affairs report.
Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins wrote in an arrest report that she saw “a rock-like substance on the floor board where his feet were.”
She did a series of roadside tests; they came back positive for an illegal substance.
Officers said it was meth and took Rushing to jail on a possession of methamphetamine with a firearm charge where he spent 10 hours before posting $2,500 bond.
Another test, this time performed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, determined it was sugar from the doughnut.
Orlando police ended up training more than 730 officers on how to properly use the field test kits.
Riggs-Hopkins was given a written reprimand for making an improper arrest.
Rushing, 65, said the arrest made him feel like a criminal.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve never even smoked a cigarette before, let alone meth.”
Rushing, who retired after 25 years with the City of Orlando Parks Department, said he still goes to Krispy Kreme to get a glazed doughnut every other Wednesday.
He just doesn’t eat it in his car.
Sweet: Man arrested for doughnut glaze gets $37,500
Updated:
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A man arrested in Florida after police mistook doughnut glaze in his car for meth has received a $37,500 settlement.
Daniel Rushing told the Orlando Sentinel that he received a check last week from the city of Orlando.
Rushing was arrested in December 2015 when Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins spotted flakes of glaze on his car's floorboard and thought they were pieces of crystal methamphetamine. Rushing told officers it was likely sugar from Krispy Kreme doughnuts he'd eaten, but roadside drug tests were positive for the illegal substance.
A state crime lab test cleared Rushing several weeks later, and he filed a lawsuit.
Orlando police ended up training more than 730 officers how to properly use the field-test kits.
Riggs-Hopkins was given a written reprimand for making an improper arrest.
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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
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