Crime

GA Cops Pay $1M For A Single Ounce Of Weed After Charging 64 People With Possessing It

Excellent use of taxpayer dollars. Well done, fellas.

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Legal Marijuana ConceptIn Cartersville, Georgia, the police do not need a warrant to enter a residence if they “smell marijuana.” And so on December 31, 2017,  members of the Cartersville Police Department waltzed right into a New Year’s Eve party, without an invitation.

Because they drove by an apartment complex and “smelled marijuana.” With their windows up because it was December. And they knew exactly which unit the smell was coming from.

Once inside, police searched the premises, found less than one ounce of weed — i.e. misdemeanor weight — and, when no one claimed it, arrested everyone at the party and charged them with possession. Seventy guests, 50 of whom are Black and five of whom were minors at the time, were transported to jail by the Bartow County Drug Task Force, where they were forced to stand outside in winter cold for hours waiting to be strip-searched and placed in a freezing holding cell for up to three days. According to the ensuing complaint, many of them were denied medical care and threatened with isolation if they complained.

And even though the prosecutor dropped the charges within two weeks, the arrestees’ mugshots were already all over the internet. Multiple plaintiffs lost their jobs as result of this patently ridiculous arrest.

Dubbed the “Cartersville 70,” the story quickly went viral, because oh, come the f*ck on! Or, as attorney Gerald Griggs, speaking on behalf of the NAACP told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “It’s simply not possible for 70 people to possess the same alleged small amount of marijuana.”

Forty-four of those arrested filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the various law enforcement agencies responsible for this debacle. And this week the parties came to a settlement, with the plaintiffs splitting a $900,000 payout. Police admit no liability, with the Cartersville City Manager telling Fox 5 News that the defendants were simply seeking to avoid the cost of litigation and acknowledge no wrongdoing.

Which is some really expensive weed, both for the young people at this party, most of whom were in their early twenties and have to live with the trauma of this event, and for the cops. The city retains its policy of allowing for warrantless searches of residences if police “smell weed.”

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Pffft. Smoke ’em if you got ’em.

Police to pay ‘Cartersville 70′ members $900K to settle federal lawsuit [AJC]
CIVIL SUIT ENDS WITH $900,000.00 SETTLEMENT FOR “CARTERSVILLE 64” YOUNG ADULTS CASE [Coosa Valley News]

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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