The Maize Halo

August 7th, 2019 at 9:53 AM ^

In case you don't want to have to go to the link:

The QB was pulled over for speeding (80 mph) after calling police dispatchers to inform them he was not pulling over immediately because the area wasn't well-lit enough. 

Police tested a white substance on the QB's hood and found it tested positive for cocaine. (The QB claimed it was bird poop). The QB was arrested for possession of less than 1g of cocaine.

The team suspended the QB indefinitely on Friday, but he was reinstated after passing a team-administered drug test.

Moral of the Story: Don't park under trees or power lines or you will go to jail.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

August 7th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^

We should doubt that. The "first screen" drug tests that authorities perform have a high false positive rate, both because their chemical mechanism is poorly specific and because the authorities performing them don't have sufficient clinical or scientific training to avoid mistakes. It is even possible that bird splat is a widely known false positive.

1VaBlue1

August 7th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^

Yep...  The guy was completely in the right to call the station and tell them what was up.  The cops in the car should have accepted that as a smart thing to do.  I have bird poo all over the doors of my wife's car because of a, ahem, confused cardinal, who keeps trying to fly and peck its way inside the car. I'd be livid if anyone thought it should be tested for cocaine!  Although, that bird is probably snorting it...

ScruffyTheJanitor

August 7th, 2019 at 10:57 AM ^

Other option: flip on your hazzards. I was told by my uncle (County Deputy and former State Hwy patrolman) that this was the universal sign for "I see your lights but I don't want to pull over yet." Their office told girls to do this if they were ever pulled over in the country or in a bad neighborhood, just in case the officer was fake.

MgoHillbilly

August 7th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^

I've dealt with law enforcement in Bulloch county and am not confident that all their officers would understand that.  The downside is that they may try to charge you with fleeing and eluding if they believe you saw them and didn't stop.  Not terrible if you get charged with the misdemeanor in that code section because you'll get a bond, but if they are pissed and slap you with a felony fleeing and eluding charge (involves aggravating circumstances), your butt will be sitting in the jail there until you get your preliminary hearing which could easily be a few weeks.  So calling 911 was probably the smart thing to do even though I  don't like the possibility that those statements could potentially be used against the driver in court later.

WestQuad

August 7th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^

I'm not sure how many cases there are of this stuff but [John Oliver] did a piece on it awhile back and police test all sorts of stupid things in people's car and come up with false positives for drugs.  It's essentially harassment.    Cops knew the bird poop wasn't cocaine.  

drjaws

August 7th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^

Most cops are good folks.

Some, like these, are asshats who feed on the power and believe they're a level above citizens.  They have breakdowns when someone doesn't comply immediately even if it is well within their rights to not comply.

I hope these cops get suspended.