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Lit_Match

Dearborn lets cop quit without a drug charge in marijuana brownie case
05-10-07|Detroit Free Press|BY JENNIFER DIXON

Dearborn police declined to pursue criminal charges against an officer last year, even after the cop admitted to taking marijuana from criminal suspects and, with his wife, cooking it up in brownies.

Then-Cpl. Edward Sanchez was allowed to resign from the department, but he was not charged with a crime. He declined to comment Wednesday.

His wife, Stacy Sanchez, admitted to police investigators that on another occasion she removed cocaine from her husband's police cruiser -- drugs purportedly earmarked to train police dogs -- and used it during a three-week binge. She, too, has not been charged criminally. Dearborn Police Cmdr. Jeff Geisinger left a phone message with Free Press reporting partner WDIV-TV Local 4 saying Sanchez resigned during an internal investigation. Geisinger did not return subsequent calls asking why Sanchez was not prosecuted.

The decision not to charge Sanchez upset Dearborn Councilman Doug Thomas, who said the department's inaction sends the wrong message to the public.

"If you're a cop and you're arresting people and you're confiscating the marijuana and keeping it yourself, that's bad. That's real bad. That's like apprehending a bank robber and keeping some of the money for yourself."

He promised to investigate.

"It doesn't add up here," Thomas said. "If he was allowed to resign with no action, he can apply for another police position. There's all kinds of ramifications."

The department's investigation began with a bizarre 911 call from Sanchez's home in Dearborn Heights. On the night of April 21, 2006, a panicky Sanchez told an emergency dispatcher he thought he and his wife were overdosing on marijuana.

"I think we're dying," he said in the 5-minute tape, obtained under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

"We made brownies and I think we're dead, I really do," Sanchez continued.

He told the dispatcher he had never made marijuana brownies before, but had previously used marijuana.

Then, he asked the score of the Red Wings game on television that night, explaining, "I just want to make sure this isn't some type of, like, hallucination that I'm having."

When later questioned by police investigators, Sanchez said his wife took the marijuana out of his police vehicle while he was sleeping, and she told investigators she tricked him into eating a pot-laced brownie.

"Cpl. Sanchez was insistent that he would never ingest marijuana or any narcotics intentionally," an investigator wrote.

But in a subsequent interview, Sanchez acknowledged he fetched the marijuana from his car, put it in the brownie batter, and ate the brownies.

Sanchez also said he took the marijuana "off the street from unknown persons," investigators wrote.

"I questioned him in detail about how many times and what types of narcotics he seized without arrest," the report said. "He was adamant that he only seized marijuana, and it was on a few occasions. Cpl. Sanchez stated that it had been over a year since he seized this marijuana and that the marijuana was taken to train his K-9," or drug-sniffing dog.

Wayne State University criminal law professor David A. Moran said Sanchez's behavior was problematic -- as was the Police Department's decision not to charge him.

"An officer has a duty to enforce the law and if an officer finds someone in possession of illegal narcotics, he has a duty to seize the narcotics, arrest the persons ... and properly dispose of the contraband if no charges end up being filed," Moran said.

Moran said it is a criminal offense in Michigan for officers to fail to perform their duties.

"It is not as unusual as it should be for the police to look the other way when an officer commits an infraction, but this is a lot worse than the average police officer speeding a little bit," Moran said.

Admin note, for an extra bit of insight there is an audio clip of the 911 call in the upper right hand section of this page.

 

Abomonog

Ever heard of the Blue Code?

It says that no officer shall ever turn in another or testify against another in court, even in a murder case.

This practice has been in place since the 20's and there is certainly is no reason to believe that it has changed today.

This case is the blue code in full action.

I don't care if there ARE police on this board because this is gonna get them all mad.

If you are a police officer, and you follow the blue code in any way. You are just as corrupt as a cop on the take.

I have never, EVER met a cop who didn't follow the blue code.

Draw your own conclusions.

<ME settles down for banning number 3 for cruely slapping the members here in the face with reality. (yet again)>

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Darque Pervert

What pisses me off about this story (once I stop laughing at how absurdly hilarious the 911 call is!) is that the cop isn't charged at all.
A regular citizen would get charged, but he doesn't.

I agree that it's the so-called "blue code" in full effect.
I'm sorry, but when a police officer gets sworn in, they take an oath "to uphold and defend the law." Mr. Sanchez didn't uphold jack shit.

While I think the idea of a cop that's cool about marijuana is awesome, a cop that gets busted and suffers no consequences really cheeses me off.

Buzzby

It sounds like Sanchez believed the prohibitionist propaganda. If he'd been around this site he would have known better.

You really have no idea what constitutes an infraction, do you? You ought to read the Posting Guidelines.

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cepheus

If only Mr. Sanchez knew you can't DIE from marijuana, he and his wife would still be smoking and eating other people's weed.

 

Sec

It is amazing what a little paranoia coupled with a panic attack can do to someone, isn't it.

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Abomonog

Ahh Buzzby, It wasn't you that did it, but I have been temporarily banned from this site twice in the last 8 years.

The first after a row with a Florida LEO in the forums. For saying the the rest of the nations LEO generally regarded Florida, especially Sarasota County, as a laughing stock.

A statement which was an absolute truth and would be bourne out with the 9/11 events. If anyone had actually investigated HOW known terrorists were able to exist in Venice Florida for years, the city would have been left without a police department.

I Apparently was banned for being insulting, when I was mearly passing on an observation. One that still holds true. In fact "Nazi Keystones" or "Darth Vader's Stormtrooper Rejects" are the terms most used to describe Florida's policing techniques. Pretty funny eh? It would be if it wasn't so true.
Sorry to the LEO's who actually hold standards higher than this, but being a transient state is not an excuse for Florida's policing tactics.


The second time you all were sweating over how the police would react to an up and coming smokeout in D.C..

Apparently the year before there had been some mass arrests and people were worried. So I suggested an old hippie tactic. Form a circle, lock arms, and don't budge. You all said, that isn't enough!. So I suggest something that ended the first prohibition. Occupy Congress. Walk in, sit down, and don't budge. Smoke, party, and have fun. This would put our governments actions in a direct spotlight and create a submit or die situation for them. They would be forced to submit or violently remove a peaceful demonstration from inside the halls of congress on front of worldwide television cameras. Think of the ramifications if our government fired on X thousands of unarmed civies inside the halls of congress, a public building funded by those very civies. I think our government would decide to preserve itself over such action.

This created a lot of no, nos and someone mentioned that you can't play ninentendo when you are dead and I said he was being cowardly. This earned me a week ban. I have also been censored for post that seemed to have nothing to do with MJ, mearly because it wasn't mentioned in the post.
This tells me that you moderators do not realise that there are factors that have nothing to do with MJ that affect it's status.

EG: the next fuel after oil will either be Hydrogen or biodeisel/biogas. Despite actually taking more energy to produce than it creates, our government is pushing hydrogen. Why? Because the best source of biofuels is hemp. (refer to recent article about textiles as to why hemp is a bad thing (the money shift.)) Therefore if hydrogen becomes our next fuel than MJ is going to be that much harder to legalize. But if I were to post an article about the state of future fuels it would be deleted or locked. Even the Michael Moore case has bearing here. He's about to discredit our entire medical industry, and show that Fidel Castro provides American citizens with better health care than Bush. Our medical industry is in full panic over this, and Bush wants Moore in jail. How all this plays out and if the film (Called "Sicko") ever gets released will have tremendous bearing on legalization. It will force changes that could go either way for us. I'm willing to bet that Medical Marijuana will get some mention in the film. Did anyone here think of this? This forum really needs someone who can connect the dots well as a moderator. I've had too many relevant posts locked for irrelevancy because they lacked one single word. Marijuana.

Sorry to vent, but you kind of asked for it.

And to unhijack this thread:

To all you LEO's out there.

If you have ever arrested someone for using any drug.
If you have ever arrested a prostitute or a john.
If you have ever looked the other way when a fellow officer committed a crime, no matter how minor.
If you have ever filed for civil forfeiture against a defendant before they were proven guilty in a court of law.
If you have ever lobbied for/against a law with the purpose of driving up arrest rates in your community.
If you've ever stopped someone because, "you're absolutely sure he has to be up to something".
If you have ever obeyed a superiors orders you knew to be either immoral or illegal.
Used an animal as a defensive or offensive weapon.
If you have participated in a random drug search of a school.
Pointed your gun at someone you knew to be unarmed or fired at a fleeing suspect with his back turned.
Attempted to coerce a suspect into allowing a search of his/her car/house/belongings.

You have violated the U.S. Constitution, your oath of office, and the publics trust.
You are corrupt and as deserving of prison as any hardened criminal.

In some of these cases are actions that are absolute cowardice, and in one, life is actually devalued.

It's sad to say that these things I have listed (and thousands of other various violations that I haven't, like snag and drops of gang members and no knock raids) are not the exception, but the normal behavior of police departments all across our country.

Whether we like it our not, our police are robbing from us, violating us, and murdering us.
It's nothing new. History is only repeating itself and the tale is easy to read.
The drug war is chapter one. It creates the lesser class.
The salary gap is chapter 2. It separates the lesser class from the "approved" one and sets up chapter 3. The physical separation of the lesser class.
We are well into this chapter right now as we see walls going up in affluent neighborhoods and the prolification of upper class exclusive clubs and organizations. The persecution of the lesser class begins here. The rich and affluent now live by a separate set of rules in chapter 3.

In chapter 4 we see the ghettoization of the lesser class as the salary gap grows wider. The walls move from around the rich neighborhoods to the poor ones.

In chapter 5 the lesser class is now seen as subhuman. Laws now only actually apply to them and prisons start to become concentration camps.

Chapter 6 is, of course, Genocide. The final solution to the lesser class problem.

In 1933 Germany was at the later stages of chapter 3 (where we are close to now). It only took them 5 years to make it to full blown chapter 6.

The commoner in America has become the 21 first century Jew.
We are being robbed, imprisoned, tortured, raped, and murdered in the interest of a class that is totally separate from us, sees us as a lesser creature, and is totally willing to see us suffer so that they may lead an easier life.
Like the Jews before us it seems we are willing to wait until it is too late and the showers are running.

History has proven that the only way to stop it is to stand our ground.
But it seems more like the American public would prefer the showers.


(For those who don't know: The "showers" were a Nazi trick to execute Jews.
They would round up Jews under the pretense of cleaning them up and drop a cyanide gas container onto the unsuspecting Jews while they were locked in a mock shower.
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lilgrasshoppah

I've been saying it for years. If you do not hold police to a higher standard than citizens, you create a police state. The police uphold the law. If they can't abide by the law... then THERE is no law.

Look. I don't make the rules. I am not invested with any special powers: a badge, a gun, a law degree, SWAT training, or even a blinky light and a siren for my car. Society does not look to me, to defend them from criminals. A policeman has some or all of those things. And, if a cop arbitrarily applies laws... if certain people have more rights than others (due to wealth, heredity, power, or some other whim)... then what you have is despotism.

It the town where I lived, it was an open secret that the Staff Sergeant's daughter would steal weed and X out of the evidence locker and resell it in school... not only that, but cops would regularly "confiscate" small amounts and smoke it themslves. What did this do to the aveage tenager's respect for, not only prohibition, but for Law in general?

I think that cops who fail the law should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Otherwise, people will resent them, and oppose them, and they will be "forced" to adopt much more militaristic and invasive rules of engagement. It's a paradigm that is GUARANTEED to produce a police state.

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I got soul, But i'm not a soldier - The Killers

beestersuck

I personally think that all the publicity about this officer not receiving sufficient punishment contributes to the legalization front in a positive way. It provides some relief from the constant propaganda distributed by authorities. Any thoughts?