During a police raid on an unpermitted pot shop in Santa Ana late last month, hidden cameras caught officers eating marijuana-laced “edibles,” playing darts and displaying other questionable behavior, according to an attorney who plans to sue the city in connection with the raid.
The incident occurred at Sky High Holistic, a medical marijuana dispensary operating without a business permit, officials with the Santa Ana Police Department confirmed. The raid, at 419 W. 17th St., was one of several such recent operations, police said.
Video of the raid was taken by the regular surveillance cameras the shop had in place, as well as a hidden one set up in anticipation of a police visit.
The footage shows at least eight officers busting into the dispensary, guns drawn, shouting “everybody on the ground” to customers and workers.
“I was about to kick her in her f—ing nub,” a female officer later says of a customer with an amputated leg in a wheelchair.
The officers proceed to remove surveillance cameras mounted on the ceiling, the video shows.
Then, they appear to be smelling the merchandise and discussing the flavor of the edibles, to laughter. Multiple officers appear to break off pieces of the food and consume them. Several other officers play darts.
The video was edited and released to news media by Long Beach-based attorney Matthew Pappas. He plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of Marla James, the patient with the amputated leg, alleging gross mistreatment by officers during the raid.
“I’d like to see the police officers disciplined for the behavior that goes on here. I’d like to see the city stop engaging in illegal conduct,” Pappas said.
The Police Department is conducting an internal investigation in response to the video, according to police Cmdr. Chris Revere.
“We’re obviously concerned about the conduct that we saw in the edited video,” Revere said. “We’re also concerned that the video was heavily edited. We’d like to see the original video in its unedited version.”
Revere said he “couldn’t say for certain” the officers were consuming pot edibles in the video.
Pappas and James, want to see reform — and a more fair system for allowing pot shops in Santa Ana. A judge recently issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city from implementing a voter-approved lottery system designed to distribute 20 permits for cannabis collectives, according to the OC Weekly.
Sky High was not one of the 20 dispensaries that were granted permits to operate in February. The shop operated nonetheless, and its owners expected it to be raided.
Revere said no dispensaries in the city are currently operating “legitimately.”
“If the temporary restraining order is lifted, the city can then begin issuing permits for legal dispensaries to operate,” the police commander said in an email.
James said dispensaries have no choice but to operate illegally, without a functioning permit system. She said she was the “patient manager” in the day that the raid occurred.
She criticized officers for how she was treated.
“They intimidated me. They threatened me, and then they let us go,” James, 54, said. “What they did, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.”
Pappas ran unsuccessfully for Long Beach city attorney last year. He regularly represents medical marijuana patients, according to the 2013 profile in the Orange County Register.
Of course they ate the edibles silly,their PIGS!
smoking weed won’t ruin your life but i’ll arrest you so it will.
watched a video of cop pulling guy over in a van questioning him if he had any illegal drugs in the vehicle. guy says, no nothing like that officer. officer says, sit tight i’m going to have a dog inspect the outside of your vehicle. while he’s busy getting the dog, you see the guys hands come out the window as he’s releasing two balloons into the air. the cop sees it, runs, and starts shooting at the balloons and misses.
you gotta love the guys ingenuity. not to mention, its funny as hell.
“But your Honor, I had quadruple the amount of cash and drugs that has been entered into evidence here.” “Shut up or I’ll hold you in Contempt of Court.”
Well, we’ll get to the bottom of this! “Internal Affairs” is sifting the clues now!
Pray for me to be on your Jury. That’s all I can say.
Ahhh, being a pig. It is the only job in the world where you can go to work hungry, horny, broke and sober and by the end of you shift, you have all of your needs fulfilled.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to wake up and put your badge on, whack your carrot like the profile says you do, and go out looking for some heads to bang. Yep, ole Barney Fife, “I must keep law and order, I is important.” “I flunked the intelligence test to get here after my GED and Tech school training. I aced the sociopath test. There’s no debate here, I got my tazer, baton, and firearm to back up my version of events. Welcome to “Police World.”
“I was about to kick her in her f—ing nub,” a female officer later says of a customer with an amputated leg in a wheelchair.”
Wow. Tough b#tch, ain’t she. Bet she really kicks @ss against blind people, too. Someone needs to kick her in the f’n face… repeatedly, until that fat yap of hers is shut permanently.
“Revere said he “couldn’t say for certain” the officers were consuming pot edibles in the video.”
Wouldn’t a simple inventory resolve that?
wizz test like in USAF. fill the bottle, they ought to be doin it on a frequent random basis. Even though you got dumb cops that are going to try to drink a bottle of Vinegar. I mean the DUMB really is dumb. Maybe they got smart and have a new product or way to kill the test 100%? I would PRESUME THEY DO. and I would TREAT them like they are. I know for a fact that COPS that smoke that doobie once in a year (to meditate) ARE SCARED to lose their job and deal with the discipline and psychiatrists, guns and crap–let alone their career ruined.
If this country ever does get back to being normal again, cannabis would likely be legal, and in that case, I have a plan for cops and PILOTS etc.. you could smoke, vape, eat but then you can’t do your ACTIVE JOB for 60 days. (Maybe 90? I dunno you tell me) So you would have a FORCED 2-3 months off. It could be R&R. Then after, you piss test clean, and then your back on active again. System requires a level of trust that we do not CURRENTLY HAVE.
Why not a lottery to limit the amount of 7-11s selling poisons on every corner? Supply and demand means nothing to these idiots. They don’t even care about revenue anymore, all they want is blind obedience to their retarded policies.
When I heard this story, I was just with my mom at Kaiser along with her to get her medicine. I was thinking as I was in that waiting room, what if a swat team came to Kaiser Hospital and machinegun to face down all the patients and doctors.
How long this would go on?
NOT ANOTHER DAY.
Stupid cops were not nearly smart enough to remove all the cameras & recordings.
Tyranny Abounds
Stupidity abounds as well, in their case.