Police Who Forced A Man to Eat Weed Now Have To Pay Him $100,000

Arizona Man Settles Lawsuit Against Cops That Made Him Eat Cannabis During Traffic Stop

Police brutality is on everyone’s minds right now. We see body camera footage going viral daily, and petitions have filled our social media pages, calling for justice in countless cases of violent behavior from police officers in the United States. These stories can be disturbing and shocking, but one case from 2016 really struck us with the bizarre role that marijuana played in it.

It all started when police officers pulled over 19-year-old Edgar Castro for speeding. They searched his vehicle and found a small amount of marijuana. Since this happened in Phoenix, Arizona, this discovery could have landed Castro in big trouble. Arizona has still not legalized recreational cannabis as of 2020, and a vote on legalization from 2016 was not successful.

But what happened next was quite puzzling.

Reportedly, the officers told Castro that he would need to eat the marijuana to avoid arrest and jail time. He ate about a gram of weed – we don’t recommend trying this – while cuffed in the back of the cop car. He felt sick and reported throwing up. When Castro asked for his phone, presumably to record the incident, one officer reportedly told him that he’d be shot if he was given his phone.

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Thankfully, no bullets were fired, and Castro was released.

Following the incident, Castro filed a lawsuit for $3.5 million dollars against the city of Phoenix, AZ, and the three police officers involved.

“Money wasn’t the issue here. I just wanted to see some justice,” Castro told Phoenix New Times. “I want to make this an example so that no other officers will try this against nobody.”

The lawsuit, which argued the police caused emotional distress and violated Castro’s civil rights, ended in a settlement. The City of Phoenix paid Castro $100,000 – for comparison, Phoenix’s latest approved budget for their police department was $721 million dollars.

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So, what happened to the officers? The three involved — Richard G. Pina, Jason E. McFadden, and Michael J. Carnicle – quickly resigned from their jobs, and their chief of police has said that they would have been fired otherwise. Meanwhile, Lt. Jeff Farrior, who was notified of the incident but failed to launch an investigation, was demoted from lieutenant to sergeant.

It may be satisfying to see some level of accountability being placed on these men, but Castro believes there’s still a long way to go.

“The officers who violated me did it because they felt like they could,” Castro said in a statement. “They felt like their uniforms made it okay for them to be racist bullies and to treat me like a second-class citizen.”