In a country enamored with a show about two guys making bright blue methamphetamine, it’s no wonder New York City policemen might’ve had drugs on the brain. But after cops mistook a few Jolly Rancher hard candies for meth and arrested three men in connection with the “controlled substance,” the NYPD has agreed to pay $33,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by one of the men who was in custody for 24 hours.

Three men will get a total of $33,000 from the City of New York to settle the civil rights lawsuit, reports the Smoking Gun.

Two of the men had just come from a candy store in Coney Island and were nabbed by cops. Police said they’d found a “quantity of methamphetamine” on the men, and reported that a field test tested positive for narcotics.

One of the officers said in a sworn criminal complaint that “has had professional testing as a police officer in the identification of methamphetamine.” But apparently he’s never seen a Jolly Rancher…

Further lab tests showed that the “crystalline rocks of solid material” in pretty red and bright blue didn’t have any controlled substances in them, and the charges were dismissed.

A third man was arrested in connection to the others, after he protested what was going on. He was charged with obstruction and resisting arrest, and his case adjourned in contemplation of dismissal.

And now I want some candy, because there’s no better feeling like hard candy stuck to your teeth with the potential to lay waste to any dental work in its way.

NYPD Pays Arrested Men For Mistaking Jolly Rancher Candies For Meth Rocks [The Smoking Gun]

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