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(The old "I smell pot" trick.)
...they didn't find so much as a roach.
The impotently frustrated Pompton Lake cops impounded Darren Richardson's 2004 3-series Beamer after claiming they smelled "a strong odor of marijuana" during a routine traffic stop, reports Wes Siler of Jalopnik.
When Richardson's car was returned -- days later -- he found the dash cut apart, the seats slashed, the console pried open and the bumpers and other body parts pulled off the vehicle. His insurance company, GEICO, estimated the damages at $12,636.42, more than he'd paid for the car -- which was designated a total loss.
The instrument cluster and leather dashboard were gone, reports James Queally at The Star-Ledger. The gear shift was ripped out and stray wires were hanging everywhere.
The sorry incident has led to an internal affairs investigation by the Pompton Lakes Police Department, opening the door for expensive litigation which could cost local taxpayers thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, experts wondered why the department was wasting time and resources in pursuit of what many see as a minor crime.
"They went way beyond the scope of this," said Jeffrey Gold, a criminal defense attorney who taught search and seizure courses at the Burlington County Police Academy. "Once they got into it, they started tearing the car apart. They made it worse, in the hopes they would make it better by striking gold."
Unable to find any illicit substances, the cops impounded the vehicle and called in a federal drug task force to do an, um, "comprehensive search" of the vehicle. (You know, the kind where asshole cops can't find anything to get you for, so they get pissed off and destroy your property.)
"This is a great illustration of the costs of this kind of enforcement, which yielded nothing for public safety, said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "All those resources went for something that most Americans don't even think should be a crime."
Another story of police abusing their powers, Police wages comes out of taxes so why are they not focusing on crimes which the public actually care about rather then wasting tax payers money on nothing lol
So when do the cops get arrested for destroying private property? When do the cops have to pay $12,000 to this man for illegally destroying his vehicle? When do the cops go to jail for an act that would put ANYONE ELSE behind bars?
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