NYPD Busts Man After Mistaking Mints For Ecstasy

WHOOPS! You would hope cops would know the difference between illegal drugs and breath mints.

Robert Hankins, 46, was arrested on April 2 at 2:30 PM by NYPD Officer Sean Nurse, according to a Criminal Court complaint. Nurse reported observing Hankins in possession of “a plastic bag containing a quantity of” Ecstasy.

The complaint noted that Nurse had “professional training” in the identification of Ecstasy, and that he “previously made arrests for the criminal possession” of the drug. Additionally, the plastic bag seized from Hankins was “a commonly used method of packaging such substance.”

The purported Ecstasy pills, however, were actually Pow brand mints, a discovery that prompted Brooklyn prosecutors in October to dismiss a drug possession charge against Hankins.

By: Cheston Catalano

Cheston Catalano is a Kentucky-based journalist whose work has been featured in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle. He is a long-time contributor to Liberaland.