Three Phoenix police officers have resigned after a man claimed that they forced him to eat the marijuana found in his car in order to avoid having to go to jail.
“Their actions are appalling and unacceptable. This conduct is against everything that we stand for,” said Chief Joseph Yahner on Thursday.
The man who was forced to eat the marijuana told a patrol supervisor that he felt ill after being directed to inject about a gram of the marijuana or face jail time.
The officers involved, Richard G. Pina, Jason E. McFadden and Michael J. Carnicle, have all resigned, with a fourth officer punished with demotion from lieutenant to sergeant for being aware of the situation that took place last week and not doing anything about it.
“I was going to fire them. They chose to resign,” Yahner said.
Two of the officers involved will by investigated by the department and will also undergo a criminal investigation. The third is considered to be a witness to the incident and is only under department investigation.
Yahner called the officers’ actions “disturbing and upsetting” but declined to discuss the details of the ongoing department and criminal investigations.