A case of mistaken identity goes wrong for Orlando Police officers.
ORLANDO, Fla.- A Krispy Kreme doughnut got one Orlando man thrown into the slammer and now the Orlando Police Department is looking at a lawsuit.
Last December Daniel Rushing, 64, was arrested during a traffic stop after a pair of officers discovered what they thought were pieces of crystal methamphetamine.
Every other Wednesday Rushing treats himself to a Krispy Kreme doughnut, but that tradition might be over after the issues it caused for him.
Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkin, an eight-year department veteran, was the officer who made the arrest. She had been staked out at a 7-Eleven because of complaints of drug activity, according to her arrest report.
Rushing was pulled over after he failed to come to a full stop before pulling out of that convenience store parking lot and because he was traveling at 42 mph in a 30 mph zone.
In the arrest report, Riggs-Hopkin stated that Rushing also had a concealed weapons permit and a gun in his car. He was asked to step out of his car and that is when Riggs-Hopkin spotted the “rock like substance on the floorboard.”
“I recognized through my eleven years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic,” wrote Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, in an arrest report.
When officers pointed out the believed narcotic substance on the floorboard Rushing insisted it was sugar from the Krispy Kreme doughnut. Riggs-Hopkin conducted two roadside drug tests and both came back positive for illegal substance.
Rushing was arrested and taken into custody on a charge of possession of methamphetamine with a firearm. He was later released on $2,500 bond.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a test ran in the Orlando crime lab confirmed it was not an illegal drug. Three days later the State Attorney’s Office in Orlando dropped the charges.
Rushing has since hired a lawyer and is wanting the city to pay him damages. An amount has not yet been specified, but his attorney told the Orlando Sentinel that they expect to file suit in August.
