Post by ck4829 on Jun 7, 2017 15:19:44 GMT
Pennsylvania State Police paid $195,000 to settle a New York man's claims he was wrongly jailed for nearly a month after troopers using a field drug test mistook soap for cocaine, a court document obtained by The Morning Call shows.
Alexander Bernstein of Brooklyn also settled claims in his federal lawsuit against Safariland LLC, the company that produced the allegedly faulty drug test that troopers used during the November 2013 traffic stop in Lehigh County when Bernstein and a traveling companion were arrested, his lawyer said.
Attorney Joshua Karoly of Allentown said he could not discuss the terms of either settlement, except that the parties had reached mutually agreeable resolutions and agreed not to discuss them.
The Morning Call obtained a copy of the state police settlement by requesting it under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law. Bernstein's settlement with Safariland is not subject to the public records law.
State police and Safariland did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
While Bernstein was behind bars, he lost his job, his apartment and his possessions, rendering him homeless and destitute, the lawsuit claimed.
Bernstein's lawsuit was cited in a ProPublica investigation published July 7 in The New York Times Magazine as one of several around the country attacking the reliability of roadside chemical tests to identify drugs.
The investigation noted that tests produced by manufacturers including Safariland are not regulated, are subject to user error and misinterpretation, and can produce false positives from dozens of chemicals other than illegal drugs, including medications and household cleaners.
ProPublica estimated that at least 100,000 people across the country plead guilty each year to drug possession charges that are based solely on field tests.
www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-state-police-roadside-drug-test-settlement-20160714-story.html
Read more: burnoatus.freeforums.net/thread/372/state-police-195k-jailed-over#ixzz4jKXH9TPa
Alexander Bernstein of Brooklyn also settled claims in his federal lawsuit against Safariland LLC, the company that produced the allegedly faulty drug test that troopers used during the November 2013 traffic stop in Lehigh County when Bernstein and a traveling companion were arrested, his lawyer said.
Attorney Joshua Karoly of Allentown said he could not discuss the terms of either settlement, except that the parties had reached mutually agreeable resolutions and agreed not to discuss them.
The Morning Call obtained a copy of the state police settlement by requesting it under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law. Bernstein's settlement with Safariland is not subject to the public records law.
State police and Safariland did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.
While Bernstein was behind bars, he lost his job, his apartment and his possessions, rendering him homeless and destitute, the lawsuit claimed.
Bernstein's lawsuit was cited in a ProPublica investigation published July 7 in The New York Times Magazine as one of several around the country attacking the reliability of roadside chemical tests to identify drugs.
The investigation noted that tests produced by manufacturers including Safariland are not regulated, are subject to user error and misinterpretation, and can produce false positives from dozens of chemicals other than illegal drugs, including medications and household cleaners.
ProPublica estimated that at least 100,000 people across the country plead guilty each year to drug possession charges that are based solely on field tests.
www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-pa-state-police-roadside-drug-test-settlement-20160714-story.html
Read more: burnoatus.freeforums.net/thread/372/state-police-195k-jailed-over#ixzz4jKXH9TPa