The New York Police Department (NYPD) is being sued by a man they arrested for what they thought was methamphetamine but was actually Jolly Rancher candies, Fox News reported.
Love Olatunjiojo, 25, of Brooklyn filed the civil rights action this week naming the city, three officers involved, and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office as the defendants, according to court documents.
On Jun. 20, Olatunjiojo was with friends when they purchased candy from a local shop in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood.
Kenneth Smith, the man's attorney, said the Jolly Rancher candies were still wrapped up when the officers stopped the three men and searched them.
"I don't know if these cops have been watching 'Breaking Bad,' but my client is not Walter White," Smith said.
Once the officers discovered the candies, Olatunjiojo and one of his friends were arrested for drug possession. The third man involved was detained for yelling at the officers, "It's candy!"
The lawsuit says that one of the officers involved in the incident told the Brooklyn's District Attorney's Office that lab tests proved the candy to be methamphetamine.
However, an NYPD lab test performed on Jun. 22 declared they were candy.
Olatunjiojo states in his lawsuit that his charges were not dropped until Sept. 19, almost three months after the lab results cleared him of drug possession.
Mike Levine, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, suggested that the candy bears a similar look to meth.
"Crystal meth is produced in all kinds of colors," Levine said. 'There's a type that's going around that looks like strawberry Pop Rocks candy."
"Dope dealers will disguise their product in any way you can imagine," he added.
Olatunjiojo is seeking unspecified damages relating to the case and said he experienced "emotional trauma" after being in jail.
According to Salon, one of the officers allegedly said it was "only a matter of time before they found something."
