Documents: State Police Pay $195K in Soap, Cocaine Mix-Up

By
Associated Press

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Court documents show the Pennsylvania State Police have paid $195,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a New York man who spent 29 days behind bars after troopers mistook homemade soap for cocaine.

Alexander Bernstein’s attorney, Joshua Karoly, tells The Morning Call his client also has settled claims against Safariland LLC, the company that produced the allegedly faulty drug test that troopers used during a November 2013 traffic stop. Details of that settlement weren’t available.

State police and Safariland didn’t return messages seeking comment Thursday.

Bernstein was a passenger in a Mercedes-Benz police pulled over for speeding near Allentown. Troopers smelled marijuana, searched the car and found packages the driver said was homemade soap, but tested as cocaine. Lab tests later showed it was soap.

photo: Getty Images

Associated Press

View Comments

  • Another waste of time, money and reputation in the failed war on drugs. If it had been real cocaine, and it had made it to market, less damage would have been done than what happened in this fiasco.

  • Hold up they smelled marijuana but found soap instead and as we know field test kits pop false positive %70 of the time. Hahaha dumbasses

  • Meanwhile in Colorado they have a town in panic because the water is supposedly tainted with thc because a dumbass used a field test strip from a water fountain. Funny cos it done at a drug testing facility

By
Associated Press

Recent Posts

Ohio GOP Lawmakers Debate Adult-Use MJ Priorities, Eye June for Regulation Approval

Ohio's recreational market remains in limbo, for now.

20 hours ago

Study: Psilocybin Enhances Meditation

For those seeking enlightenment through meditation, psilocybin might do the trick.

20 hours ago

Cannabis Community, Investors React to DEA Decision To Reschedule

Cannabis advocates hailed the DEA’s decision to reclassify marijuana under federal drugs laws, although many…

20 hours ago

Georgia Governor Signs Bill Establishing Licensing Requirements To Grow Hemp

The governor of Georgia signed a series of bills aimed at bolstering the state’s agriculture…

20 hours ago

Taylor Swift Puts Narcotics Into All of Her Songs on ‘The Tortured Poets Department’

On her latest album, the megastar is more open about substance abuse than ever before.

20 hours ago

New Mexico Governor Calls Homeland Security Secretary’s Response to Pot Seizures ‘Inappropriate’

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham was “offended” by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ response to her…

2 days ago