Officers sue to ban video of their controversial pot shop raid
theGrio REPORT - Three Santa Ana police officers are suing to get rid of video of the officers at a pot shop raid during which they can be seen and heard making offensive comments about a disabled woman and one officer can be seen eating what might have been a marijuana edible.
Three Santa Ana police officers are suing to get rid of video of the officers at a pot shop raid during which they can be seen and heard making offensive comments about a disabled woman and one officer can be seen eating what might have been a marijuana edible.
Corey W. Glave, a Hermosa Beach attorney representing the Santa Ana Police Officers Association and the three officers, claims that the video should be removed from evidence because the officers did not know they were being recorded and because the attorney for Sky High, the shop which was raided, had handled the video. There have been accusations of video tampering because the tape was heavily edited, with police claiming it was edited in a way that portrayed the officers in a bad light.
“The attorney representing the drug dispensary intentionally has misrepresented what happened,” Glave said.
The attorney for Sky High, Matthew Pappas, countered with, “It’s pretty pathetic for police to say if we don’t like something that it can’t be used as evidence.”
As for claims the officers didn’t know they were being filmed, Pappas said, “They knew they were on video. … Just because they missed one camera doesn’t make it illegal.”
“All police personnel present had a reasonable expectation that their conversations were no longer being recorded and the undercover officers, feeling that they were safe to do so, removed their masks,” says the suit.
