LAKE WORTH, Texas, July 11, 2008
"Tainted" Cop Cookies Deemed Safe
Texas Teen Released After Tests Show No Drugs In Goodies He Delivered To Police Stations
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(AP)
Blue Mound and Lake Worth police said tests by the Tarrant County medical examiner showed there were no controlled substances in cookies delivered this week by Christian V. Phillips, 18, who had been jailed in Lake Worth on $75,000 bond on a charge of tampering with a consumer product.
Phillips walked quickly out of the jail without commenting while accompanied by his father, who then drove away with his son.
The teen was arrested Tuesday after Lake Worth officers said they smelled marijuana in the basket he delivered and their preliminary tests instead detected LSD.
Phillips' attorney said his client was performing community-service work when he delivered goodies for Mothers Against Drunk Driving to about a dozen stations in the past couple of weeks. Only two stations had any treats left over to be tested for drugs.
"I'm really upset that this thing has gotten to this point, that this kid has gotten convicted in the media before any evidence was collected," said the attorney, L. Patrick Davis.
Some officers in Fort Worth and Watauga ate the cookies but did not become ill, and they recently had blood tests to determine whether drugs were in their systems.
Lake Worth Police Chief Brett McGuire said Thursday that he could not explain why the department's test falsely showed traces of LSD in the goodies but added that drug dogs had indicated the presence of drugs in the cookies and in Phillips' car.
"I probably wouldn't do anything differently next time," McGuire said Thursday. "None of my folks did anything that wasn't by the book."
McGuire said authorities now believe that marijuana had been stored near the cookies before Phillips delivered them. Although officers found some drug paraphernalia in his car, Phillips faces no other charges in Lake Worth, McGuire said.
Phillips had told detectives a friend of his might have been smoking pot while he was baking, and he denied contaminating the goodies or trying to harm anyone, McGuire has said.
Davis said Phillips was delivering the cookies as part of community service work after he was arrested last year at a party in Watauga.
Last year Phillips was charged with assault of a public servant, a felony, but it was reduced to assault with bodily injury, a misdemeanor. He did not plead guilty but was sentenced to an anger management class and about 80 hours of community service, Davis said. He was not put on probation.
If Phillips had completed the terms of his pretrial memorandum agreement, something for first-time offenders, the case would have been removed from his record - which would have been Wednesday, Davis said.
He graduated from high school in May and plans to attend college this fall.
"His life's been derailed, and I hope he can pick up the pieces," Davis said.
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Have they been framing people now falsely imprisoned, for years?
It''s a victimless crime, so it''s their call who goes to jail, evidently even if they''re innocent.
Wasn''t Cheney''s nephew busted for growing A LOT of marijuana, then let off?
Didn''t the FBI''s laboratory get caught for faking results to convict people a few years ago?
Didn''t Karl Rove just refuse to answer a summons?
So much for equal treatment under the law. It is selective.
is going to feel about cops in the future. He''s
going to be pissed off after getting pissed on. The
stories that came out after this incident made him out
to be a druggie and a liar and possible terroristic
threat. People remember the inital stories not the
fact he was innocent. Yeah there are people who do
these sorts of things. But they usually don''t go
out of their way to tell you their name and why
they''re there. DUH?
They should be made an example of...
Posted by spredbury at 03:10 PM : Jul 11, 2008
It''s all part of the training. Trust no one. Shoot first, ask questions later. Kill or be killed. Shoot to kill. etc...
What a way to view life..
Translation we are dumber than dirt and Texas is now in the lead for the stupidest State in the Country. In fact I don''t think any other State can out stupid this one.
...and delicious, thank you very much.
can''t explain ... sounds like maybe some cases where these tests and dogs were used need to be reviewed.
everyone claims they smelled the drugs ... the tests showed the presence of the drugs ... but there were no drugs?
good to see we''re ''winning'' the war ... the war on the ''phantom'' drugs ... the drugs that are both everywhere ... and nowhere ... all at the same time.
It is time to stop hiring Jr. High School graduates who distinguished themselves only by being prototype bullies before being hired. It is time to pay cops more and hire people with half a F''ing brain. Require a Jr. College degree and real training on the law and the Constitution. Now THAT would be something!
They can hold you for 72 hours but he was arrested and held more than 72 hours. He was actually charged with a crime he did not commit. I think his attorney will make a very nice law suit from this. I am pro police but i think someone dropped the ball here. Also if his friend had been smoking while he was baking, he needs to get different friends.
No other state can out stupid this one ? What state do you live in ?
Do you realize to be hired as a police officer today it is hard to obtain if you do not have a bachelors degree ?
Mind over matter I guess. If you think you were poisoned, therefore you were?
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by eggy1620
July 14, 2008 3:44 PM PDT
- it would be funny if some of the police had showed drugs in their systems when the cookies did not.... Posted by ralan40
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Reply to this comment
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See all 32 CommentsLOL. That reminds me of the head shop owner who once mentioned that the biggest buyers of detox solutions were police officers.