Florida resident Daniel Rushing has been awarded a $37,500 settlement after Orlando police officers mistook Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze for meth, and arrested him.
The incident happened in 2015, when the police officers arrested Rushing for speeding out of a 7-Eleven that they were paying close attention to due to several complaints of drug-related activity. The cops then noticed a “rock-like substance” in the car, and Rushing insisted it wasn’t drugs. However, the cops believed it was meth, and roadside tests came back positive for an illegal substance.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Rushing was arrested on a “possession of methamphetamine with a firearm charge,” but a test done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed that the substance was instead sugar from a doughnut.
Cpl. Shelby Riggs-Hopkins wrote in an arrest report that she saw “a rock-like substance on the floor board where his feet were.”
She did a series of roadside tests; they came back positive for an illegal substance.
Officers said it was meth and took Rushing to jail on a possession of methamphetamine with a firearm charge where he spent 10 hours before posting $2,500 bond.
Another test, this time performed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, determined it was sugar from the doughnut.
Rushing, 65, went on to sue the city of Orlando, and just received a check of $37,500 in the mail last week. A rare happy ending to a story for Florida Man.