NYPD Arrests Man For Possession of Breath Mints
A Brooklyn man was arrested after police mistook his breath mints for Ecstasy.
Forty-six-year-old Ron Hankins was walking down a Brooklyn street in April when an officer "observed the defendant in possession of a plastic bag containing a quantity of methylenedioxymethamphetamins."
According to Hankins, the police stopped without cause and searched him.
He was arrested for possession of MDMA, handcuffed and held for 30 hours.
According to the complaint's admittedly boilerplate language, the lead officer had professional training in the identification of ecstasy, had previously seized ecstasy, and subsequently determined that Hankins' pills were ecstasy.
Except the pills were actually breath mints.
Now Hankins is is suing, claiming although he repeatedly told police that they were breath mints, he was still arrested, booked and arraigned.
It's not the NYPD's first time mistaking candy for drugs — another Brooklyn man was arrested and held for 24 hours in October after officers mistook his Jolly Ranchers for meth.
