Most people believe that cops are doing their best to keep the criminals off the streets, and only arrest those who are doing something wrong. In an ideal world, that's how it would work.
In the real world however, it isn't always like that. Sometimes cops make mistakes or false accusations, but this time their mistake resulted in a woman spending three months in jail.
Dasha Fincher was the passenger of her boyfriend's car on December 31st, 2016 when cops pulled the vehicle over on suspicions that the tinting was too dark.
When they checked the car, they found that it wasn't a violation, but when they discovered that the boyfriend's licence was suspended they requested permission to search the vehicle.
The cops began to examine the vehicle and discovered what they recorded as "a large, open clear plastic bag which contained a light blue substance, spherical in shape," that they believed to be narcotics.
Both her boyfriend and Fincher explained that it was just cotton candy, but apparently the deputies refused to believe them and tested it. Their field test kit indicated that the substance contained methamphetamine.
Because of this they were both arrested on charges of trafficking methamphetamines, and transported to jail.
Fincher's bail was set at $1 million because of the trafficking charges, meaning that she was unable to post bond. She remained locked up in jail while the cops sent off the "mysterious substance" for more forensic testing.
It took three months before results came back, and when they did the lab confirmed "no controlled substances confirmed" in the bag.
Even though the reports showed there was no meth at all, it took the jail another 2 weeks to release Fincher.
She has now filed a lawsuit given the fact that she was wrongfully imprisoned and held, causing her to miss several important events including the birth of her son's twins and her daughter's miscarriage.
"I knew it was cotton candy, and for him to come back and say it was meth, I really didn't know what to say," Fincher said. "At first I kept thinking I was going to get out, then the next day came, and I'd think, 'Maybe I'll get out tomorrow. Then tomorrow turned into the next day."
Fincher wants the officers to change the way that situations like this are handled, as she believes that it took way too long to get the tests back.
"I think the best thing they could do would be to change the [drug testing] policy, or change how they test, or have more training," she said. "Because it's crazy, the way it happened. It took so long."
The most confusing part for her is why they didn't release her after the results came back. "I've lost a lot I can't get back," she said. "Three months is a long time."
Not only was she kept in jail over a bag of cotton candy, she also claims to have been denied medical treatment when necessary. She alleges that while in jail she suffered from both a broken hand and an ovarian cyst, both of which were ignored.
This isn't the first time cops have arrested people based on faulty road tests. There have been reports that breath mints, tortilla dough, and even chocolate chip cookies have tested positive when there was actually nothing in them.
"It's made me not trust law enforcement," Fincher revealed. "I've never really had a problem with that. I get kind of, like, paranoid-scared, like butterflies in my stomach, when a police officer gets behind. I've never been like that."
The lawsuit is ongoing, but hopefully Fincher will receive some kind of restitution for her treatment.
Source - FOX13 / CNN / The New York Times
