Man sues city of Orlando, drug-test company after doughnut-glaze arrest


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Man arrested after doughnut glaze mistaken for meth sues city of Orlando.

A man who was arrested after Orlando police mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for crystal methamphetamine is suing the city and the drug-testing kit manufacturer.

Daniel Rushing filed a lawsuit in Orange County Circuit Court last week, alleging negligence by the city of Orlando and The Safariland Group, which produces the drug kits. He's seeking damages in excess of $15,000.

Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins pulled over Rushing in December while he was driving near Robinson Street and Parramore Avenue because he was speeding and failed to come to a full stop, according to a police report.

During the stop, she spotted a "a rock like substance on the floor" near his feet and asked to search his vehicle, records show.

Riggs-Hopkins used a roadside drug kit produced by Safariland, which has headquarters in Jacksonville and Ontario, Calif., to test the substance twice. Both times it showed it was methamphetamine, police said.

Rushing, who lives in Orlando, was arrested on a drug-possession charge and locked up for about 10 hours before he bonded out of jail.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement tested the substance several weeks later and cleared him.

In the suit, Rushing says Riggs-Hopkins, an eight-year department veteran, is not properly trained to use drug-testing kits.

He also alleges she should have known that doughnut glaze was not meth and should have known the kits can be unreliable. Rushing says the officer should have waited until the FDLE tested the substance before arresting him.

He says he suffered emotional harm, including embarrassment and humiliation, and now has a permanent mugshot on the internet.

The city of Orlando and Safariland would not comment on the pending litigation.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-lawsuit-doughnut-glaze-arrest-20161021-story.html

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