Story Archive

Bad Cop, No Doughnut

“I recognized through my 11 years of training and experience,” wrote Orlando Police Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, that the “rock like substance” on Daniel Rushing’s floorboard was “some sort of narcotic.” (See earlier story.) “I kept telling them,” related Rushing, “‘That’s ... glaze from a doughnut’.” But “they said, ‘No, it’s meth, crystal meth’.” Two out of three roadside tests confirmed it, so Riggs-Hopkins arrested Rushing and collected some of the glaze as evidence. State crime lab testing confirmed it was donut glaze. Now, the results of an internal investigation are in. It concludes Riggs-Hopkins did one of the tests with an “inappropriate kit” and then failed to run a required additional test to confirm her findings. But the department only reprimanded her; it concluded she “meant no harm.” The department had given its cops drug-testing kits, but failed to give them the training to use them until nearly a year after Rushing’s arrest. (AC/South Florida Sun-Sentinel) ...So how will you hold “the department” accountable?