Florida man Karlos Cashe spent 90 days behind bars after being jailed for possession of powdered drywall that had been mistaken for cocaine, police say.
Cashe was initially pulled over in March for driving without headlights, a situation that would call for nothing more than a small traffic ticket. From there, however, a number of errors resulted in Cashe’s arrest.
First, Cashe was put into handcuffs when an officer noted that he was on probation for a marijuana and cocaine charge from 2015 and was passed his court-ordered curfew. The police later realized that their documentation system was out of date, leading them to discover that Cashe was not violating his curfew. Before this discovery, however, an officer noticed a powdery white substance on the car’s floor and driver’s seat while Cashe was in the back of a police car.
A field test of the powder came up positive for cocaine, despite Cashe’s pleas that the substance was powdered drywall. “I know for a fact [that] it’s drywall because I’m a handyman,” Cashe said. “I said that continuously during the arrest stop.”
Cashe was taken to Seminole County Jail and denied bond, as he was accused of violating his probation terms. Cashe was held for 90 days “knowing [he] was innocent”, he said.
More extensive lab tests on the substances eventually came up negative, meaning that Cashe had no drugs in his car during his arrest. He was released last week and hopes that the police will be more cautious in cases like his. “I don’t want this to happen to anybody else,” he said.
[Image and video via WFTV]
