Flashing lights in the rearview mirror can send chill bumps down the spine of almost any law-abiding Florida resident. The mind automatically races to determine why one is being pulled over. One typically does not assume that he or she is about to be arrested on drug charges that will later prove to be lacking in evidence.

In March, a Florida construction worker was stopped by local police. Authorities claim that he was driving without his headlights on. Upon running the driver’s license information, officers determined that he was on probation and was in violation of his curfew; this curfew violation later proved to be inaccurate.

Based upon this information, officers conducted a search of his vehicle and found a white powdery substance. The officers used a test kit and determined that the powdery substance was cocaine. The man was then arrested and placed in jail where he remained until the laboratory test results came back 90 days later. These laboratory test results indicated that the white powdery substance found was not cocaine.

In this case, the Florida construction worker was detained and then arrested based upon faulty information. First, the man was originally handcuffed because of a computer error indicating that he was in violation of curfew. Then, either a faulty test kit or some other error led to an incorrect test result indicating that he was in possession of drugs led to his arrest and 90-day incarceration. Drug charges should not be taken lightly, and as one can see in this instance, a series of errors resulted in devastating consequences for one individual. In a similar situation, one will want to work with experienced legal counsel to ensure that one’s rights are protected.

Source: cnn.com, “Man spends three months in jail after false positive on police drug test“, Sophie Jeong, June 28, 2017