The Florida man who was arrested after an officer thought flakes of glaze from his leftover Krispy Kreme doughnuts were crystal meth has reached a settlement with the city of Orlando.
Daniel Rushing, 65, sued both the city and the manufacturer of the drug kit that incorrectly identified the glaze as meth over the false field test.
He received $37,500 from the city this week, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Rushing said the ordeal has ruined his chance to start a new business.
Daniel Rushing treats himself to a Krispy Kreme doughnut once every two weeks. In December 2015, a police officer mistook leftover glaze from one such doughnut in his car for crystal methamphetamine. He was arrested and charged. The charges were later dropped. He has reached a $37,500 settlement with the city of Orlando, Florida over the ordeal
The officer, Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, was given a written reprimand. She had not been trained in how to use the department-issued roadside drug kit that incorrectly identified the glaze as meth. Rushing had also filed suit against the manufacturer of the drug kit
The arresting officer, Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, was given a written reprimand for making the improper arrest when she took Rushing into custody in December 2015.
Rushing, a retiree who worked for the Orlando parks department for 25 years, was arrested in December 2015 when Riggs-Hopkins spotted flakes of glaze in his car.
He had just dropped off a neighbor at a hospital for a weekly chemotherapy session. He had then driven to 7-Eleven to pick up an elderly friend who needed a ride home.
Riggs-Hopkins was staking out the area for drug activity at the time and thought they were pieces of crystal methamphetamine.
Rushing told the officer it was likely sugar from Krispy Kreme doughnuts he’d eaten. He also informed officers he had a concealed weapons permit and agreed to let them search his car.
‘I kept telling them, “That’s … glaze from a doughnut… They tried to say it was crack cocaine at first, then they said, “No, it’s meth, crystal meth,”, he told the Sentinel at the time.
Rushing had been arrested and spent 10 hours in jail before being released on bond. Weeks later, the charges were dropped
But roadside drug tests were positive for the illegal substance.
He was charged with possession of methamphetamine with a firearm and spent 10 hours in jail before being released on bond.
A state crime lab test cleared Rushing several weeks later and charges were dropped.
Despite the ordeal, Rushing told reporters after the settlement was reached that he still treats himself to a Krispy Kreme doughnut every two weeks.
In Rushing’s arrest report, Riggs-Hopkins wrote that she noticed a ‘rock like substance’ on the floorboard of his car.
‘I recognized through my eleven years of training and experience as a law enforcement officer the substance to be some sort of narcotic,’ she wrote.
Orlando police said in a statement at the time that the arrest was lawful.
An internal affairs report released this past February by the Orlando Police Department found no evidence that Riggs-Hopkins acted in bad faith, the Sentinel reported.
The report says the department never trained its officers to use the department-issued roadside drug tests.
Despite the ordeal in which glaze from his Krispy Kreme doughnut (stock photo pictured at right) was mistaken for crystal meth (stock photo pictured at left), Rushing said that he still treats himself to a Krispy Kreme once every two weeks