Field Drug Test Turns Diesel To Meth, Takes Away Six Weeks Of The Truck Driver’s Freedom
from the at-least-it's-an-inexpensive-violation-of-rights dept
Field drug tests are awful. They’re insanely unreliable. Sure, sometimes the tests are correct: the suspected drugs are actual drugs. Broken clocks and all that. But they’re so often wrong they should be considered as scientifically sound as hiring a full-time psychic and promoting them to detective.
Here’s a short list of things drug field tests have determined to be drugs:
- Cotton candy
- Donut crumbs
- A deceased child’s ashes
- Sand from a stress ball
- Honey
- Bird poop (on the hood of a car)
Despite this, cops continue to use field drug tests. They’re cheap, which means they aren’t going to attract the attention of those holding the purse strings. And their unreliability is likely considered to be a feature, rather than a bug, since even false positives give officers permission to engage in warrantless searches and rack up (possibly temporary) wins in the War on Drugs.
Another blown call by a field drug test has robbed someone of their freedom and made the law enforcement officers who declared themselves drug war heroes look like fools. (h/t CJ Ciaramella/Reason)
Here’s how the Pharr (TX) police department first reported its (temporary) bust:
Texas police uncovered 700 gallons of liquid meth hidden in a tanker trailer, officials announced in a news release.
An officer patrolling an area in Pharr noticed three men pouring something from multiple 55-gallon barrels into smaller 5-gallon buckets around the tanker trailer.
“The officer’s attention to detail called for further investigation,” police said. “He called for backup, and when Pharr Fire Department responded to the scene and noticed crystallization forming around the barrels.”
The liquid was tested and determined to be methamphetamine, police said.
The link in the Star-Telegram article links to a since-deleted post by the Pharr Police Department — one in which the Police Chief Andy Harvey claimed the massive “bust” would have an “impact way beyond our region.”
It turned out to have no impact at all. The criminal complaint [PDF] says both the Pharr PD and the DEA agents called to the scene tested the substance — one the truck driver referred to as “soap” — and “presumptively determined” the liquid in the barrels and buckets (and, apparently, the tanker) was methamphetamine. There was much rejoicing.
The rejoicing was short-lived. Lab testing of the liquid seized by law enforcement showed it wasn’t meth.
A trucker accused of hauling 700 gallons of liquid meth is free from custody after laboratory testing proved his cargo actually didn’t contain narcotics.
Juan Carlos Toscano Guzman, a Mexican national, was arrested on Feb. 15, and spent nearly six weeks behind bars on false accusations of transporting an estimated $10 million worth of methamphetamine.
[…]
But Guzman didn’t have any meth. The retired oil field worker was transporting a mixture of diesel and oil, his lawyer, Oscar Vega, told McClatchy News in a phone interview.
The government dismissed the indictment less than six weeks after it had obtained it. Guzman spent that entire time in jail. It didn’t cost the cops much to be wrong — field drugs tests can be had for around $2/each. But it cost Guzman six weeks of his life because faulty field tests are considered probable cause for arrest and criminal charges. When the tests fail, it only hurts the falsely accused. And that, apparently, doesn’t matter to law enforcement agencies, which have continued to use these tests despite being fully knowledgeable of how flawed they are.
Guzman, according to his lawyer, doesn’t appear interested in suing over this arrest and six-week stay in jail. (And, given that presumptive drug tests are considered probable cause, it would be a tough case to make.) That means the Pharr PD and its DEA buddies will walk away from this with nothing more than slightly bruised reputations. And that’s not enough to deter the use of tools that generate false positives at an alarming rate.
Filed Under: andy harvey, dea, evidence, field drug tests, juan carlos toscano guzman, pharr, pharr pd, texas
Comments on “Field Drug Test Turns Diesel To Meth, Takes Away Six Weeks Of The Truck Driver’s Freedom”
False negatives
Too bad we’ll have no idea how frequently this field test fails to detect presence of drugs…
If it’s anything like the false positives, then maybe they should try dowsing for it instead?
“The officer’s attention to detail called for further investigation”
“Juan Carlos Toscano Guzman, a Mexican national”
Why do I suspect that the “detail” he decided to pay attention to has nothing to do with the barrels, and that someone felt emasculated when correct paperwork was provided against his assumptions?
Maybe that’s a wrong assumption, but the sillier and more faulty the claim, the more likely that there’s some other reason why a cop is convinced someone is doing something wrong that they can’t explicitly state. Like the bird poop on the outside of the car even being tested – that story seemed insane until you looked at the suspect and you saw a successful young black athlete. Then it made perfect sense.
Re: YOu know its true.
That every color in the Dictionary (besides White) is Guilty.
You would Never think a White Male would run around in a tanker truck Full or drugs.(I dont think they are smart enough)
White collar crime is worth So much more. tri met in PTLD, lost the retirement funds 2 times in 10 years. Enron, nothing more to say. Oil corps and the Leaky tankers around the world.
The noses that can detect marijuana while in moving traffic can’t smell diesel when its under their noses. It’s like drugs is just an excuse to harass people.
"crystallization forming around the barrels"
I’m no chemist/petrochemical engineer – how does a mixture of diesel and oil form crystals (unless it’s w-a-a-y cold)
Were the Fire Department told what to see?
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Barrels corrode. Diesel/gas mixtures are essentially useless for modern diesel engines (50 year old tractors wouldn’t mind much), so it was likely accidental waste to be dispatched somewhere where there was still use for it. It would likely get filled into some leftover container with colorful rust patches or other residues that don’t dissolve in gas/diesel.
Of course I am assuming stupidity instead of actual malice here which may be too much of an assumption.
Re: Re:
When it comes to cops and other government vermin, that is almost always too much of an assumption.
Re: Cop - who is NOT a chemist, makes a real meth of things
“The officer’s attention to detail called for further investigation,” police said. “He called for backup, and when Pharr Fire Department responded to the scene and noticed crystallization forming around the barrels.”
The liquid was tested and determined to be methamphetamine, police said.
When did this happen? February 15th. The HOTTEST day of the year /s
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_point_(petroleum)
and some advice about avoiding gelling https://fuelandfriction.com/trucking-pro/how-prevent-diesel-fuel-gelling/
Re: Re: Gelling
The low temperature that day was in the 40s. The gel point of diesel fuel is 17.5 F.
https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/tx/mcallen/KMFE/date/2022-2-15
Here’s the thing: the police have to show that they’re winning the war on drugs somehow, and if that means locking up innocent Mexicans, black Americans, etc., whilst celebrities and white businesspeople remain free to carry proscribed substances in and out of various countries, so be it. /s
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No such things in the world of the white supremacist.
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Which seem to make up the majority of department personnel, which was kind of my point.
“And, given that presumptive drug tests are considered probable cause, it would be a tough case to make.”
I dunno, I think taking the top 10 field tests & wiping them on the Judges desk should make the case really clear.
Correction to article.
When the tests fail, it only hurts the falsely accused.
Incorrect. When the tests fail, it hurts the falsely accused and dings the taxpayer in the pocket for every individual locked up for several weeks on the basis of field ‘test’ results.
Re:
It also goes past the taxpayer. I assume someone was employing him for the job, so that employer loses his work for those weeks, plus the goods would have been impounded, which potential customers have not been able to buy and use for their needs. I’m not sure of the shelf life of this stuff, but it’s possible that it’s of no use now even if the barrels were released when he was.
He will also have lost his income for those weeks, which means that bills go unpaid, which impacts everyone from his landlord to his family if he has one, and you go as small in detail on that as you need to (that’s 6 weeks of groceries that have no longer been sold, which means less money for everyone down the chain). The exact level of impact will vary greatly depending on his actual situation, but if someone loses 6 weeks of income unexpectedly there’s going to be a knock-on effect.
The implication in the article is that since no lawsuit is going to be filed then there’s no direct harm at a significant level to anyone by the detainee, but there’s always going to be some form of issue. Even if the guy was sleeping in his truck and working for himself making up goods to sell door to door, there’s still an impact somewhere.
Re: Re:
Thank you for putting my thoughts into words when I couldn’t.
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You missed a big one.
The truck and tanker impounded for 6 weeks. That’s 6 weeks of goods not moved, income generated, maintenance not done, possible parts needing replacement afterwards since those yards are so secure (sarc).
Re: Timeframe is the real issue
The travesty in this entire thing is it takes 6 weeks to run a fee minute lab test. Regardless of the quality of the tests, mistakes will happen. The important Point is to get a reliable result quickly.
Re: Re:
Currently, the choice is between a quick test and a reliable one. That’s why the cops now run both. What would be better, though, is if nobody could be locked up based solely on the results of a quick test.
Wrong.
You are assuming that their mistake will be trumpeted as loud as their initial “findings”. That is a ridiculous assumption since there is no party with the interest and connections to do so.
The truth is that their reputations will see a net improvement by that episode, particularly where it counts for their career among their community.
You are most certainly right about that one.
“Field Test turns Diesel into Meth…”
This is like the Philosopher’s Stone, but lamer.
You start to see why davec is very interested in making sure cops aren’t punished for their mistakes.
Re:
I agree. In fact, I’m wondering if davec’s ‘son’ isn’t actually his ‘friend’ in the context of seeking information or purchasing an item ‘for a friend’. Could be that davec’s a prejudiced and very dangerous indivual that’s mandated to carry a firearm. o_0
(> _ <) =3
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Sorry about the above comment. It was supposed to be a response to the spam higher up, but something broke on this site, meaning it got posted as a response to the article instead.
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Yeah, there seem to be some bugs in where posts and replies get located. I had a similar problem, on another article comment thread.
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Maybe “View in Thread” needs to be the default, instead of “View in Chronology”
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Every time I make a comment, the display reverts to “View in Chronology” That is a bug.
Re: Re: Re:3
Are you blocking cookies by any chance, as one is needed to keep the threaded view active.
Re: Re: Re:4
So there is a bug. I’m pretty sure my nym wouldn’t appear when entering the first letter of it in the relevant bar if I had enabled a cookie blocker.
Re: Re: Re:5
Completion suggestions are generally done by the browser, not the web page. No cookies involved here.
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Completion suggestions are generally done by the browser…
Which requires a cookie from the site to be in the browser. You can’t exactly make suggestions related to cookies if you don’t have a basic understanding of how they function.
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No Cookie needed to identify name, password or email fields, the browser just reads the label.
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But cookie needed to automatically fill them in. Your point?
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Why would a cookie be needed, when the browser itself can store the URL, what you enter? A cookie is needed for server dependent information, and special values like threaded or time based listings. That is why Firefox allows an option for saving passwords for a site.
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That may be so, but I’m not using Firefox. I ask again: your point?
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A browser doesn’t need to use (and I see no reason why it would use) cookies to store its own autofill data.
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If that information was stored by my browser, then it would be automatically available for every site I leave comments on and every page of this site. It isn’t, instead being available only after the first time I enter it. Therefore, cookie.
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Not necessarily. There’s no reason the browser can’t store information about the URL and/or HTML elements along with the autofill data. This could allow it to be selective about where to suggest those entries. There’s no other way for a web site to store information on your computer other than cookies, but the browser has no such limitation.
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I’ve searched it. You can’t set auto-fill data in Opera Mini and it doesn’t automatically store it. Same goes for blocking cookies, which means I have to use the tools provided to me by websites.
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That has everything to do with the features or lack thereof of that particular browser, and not the capabilities of browsers in general.
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Main point about not blocking cookies: *whoosh*
Well yeah there is a reason you DO NOT taunt the Happy Fun Ball
Here’s a short list of things drug field tests have determined to be drugs:
-Sand from a stress ball
TBH, I’m surprised the cops bothered to test that one rather than just take a single look at it and immediately determine it to be heroin simply because it’s a brown granular substance.
To be honest, those are very antichristian concepts.
I have used diesel-based soaps before.
They are perfect for washing off the soft wax coating which protects new cars while they are shipped overseas.
When the diesel evaporates the soapy ingredients do crystallize around fittings and bungholes.
I have used diesel-based soaps before.
They are perfect for washing off the soft wax coating which protects new cars while they are shipped overseas.
When the diesel evaporates the soapy ingredients do crystallize around fittings and bungholes.
It was my understanding that field tests were supposed to have a low FN rate — meaning, if they show positive, the officer has “reasonable cause” to do further investigation. If they show negative, the officer has NO cause to do further investigation based on the individual in question.
Of course, we know that that’s not how all LEOs use the tests, and that many will consider a positive test result an indication of guilt and a reason for use of force AND for civil asset forfeiture.
But this is where accountability and training are needed. Courts should be able to come down hard on any PD that is abusing the tests, whether through ignorance or avarice.
They need to b held countable for there action ! Like 6 weeks behind bars ! Maybe next time there should b more evidence! Do u still want to b a drug agent
(> _ <) =3