Woman Spends Months in Jail over Cotton Candy Mix Up

[Suzanimal]

(NEWSER) – Dasha Fincher had a bag of blue cotton candy in the car with her when two Monroe County, Georgia, sheriff's deputies pulled the vehicle over on New Year's Eve in 2016. The deputies—who said they pulled the car over because of its dark window tint, but allegedly later admitted the windows were legal—asked her about the bag but didn't believe it was cotton candy. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes Fincher and the driver allegedly had suspended licenses at the time.) A roadside field test said there was meth in the bag and Fincher was arrested and charged with meth trafficking and possession with intent to distribute. She couldn't pay her $1 million bond and stayed in jail for three months; in March 2017, Georgia Bureau of Investigation tests revealed there had been no meth in the bag. Four weeks later, charges were dropped, and now Fincher is suing over the whole ordeal, WMAZ reports.


Her federal lawsuit names the county, the deputies, and Sirchie Acquisitions, the company that manufactures the roadside drug test. Fincher alleges the test has a history of false positives, and that the blue food coloring used in the cotton candy triggered one. She also alleges the deputies were not trained in administering the test or in identifying street drugs, and that they ultimately violated her civil rights as a result. The suit says Fincher's incarceration caused her to miss "several major life events," including the birth of her twin grandsons, and that when her son brought the babies to the jail to meet her, he was arrested on an outstanding bench warrant. Shortly thereafter, the suit says that Fincher, "frustrated with her incarceration," broke her hand on a concrete wall.


http://www.newser.com/story/267705/w...dy-mix-up.html

[Brian4Liberty]

So it looks like it was a small amount of very old cotton candy shoved under the seat. It had reduced back down to crystals of blue colored sugar. No excuse for the time it took to properly identify the sugar, and no excuse for a person to be locked up that long for a “suspected” crime that should be easy to verify. Hope she wins her case.

[Schifference]

I think the incarceration was wrong. However, I don't think her breaking her own hand because she is upset or her son being arrested for an outstanding warrant is worthy of monetary restitution. Stupid is as stupid does.

[Origanalist]

It sounds like a family of scofflaws, they probably should spend more time for all the crimes they just never were caught doing.

Maybe they would learn some respect for authority. I bet they don't even pay taxes.

[Danke]

She doesn't even look like someone who does meth. . More like someone who abuses Cotton candy.

[RJ Liberty]

Hope she wins her lawsuit. I don't cotton to false positives with drug test kits.

[Occam's Banana]

It sounds like a family of scofflaws, they probably should spend more time for all the crimes they just never were caught doing.

Maybe they would learn some respect for authority. I bet they don't even pay taxes.

Indeed. This is just another bunch of hateful ingrates who don't appreciate being SERVED. AND. PROTECTED.