Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Hispanic man arrested. Deputies mistake tortilla dough for cocaine

A man heading through the NC mountains was charged with possession of 91 pounds of cocaine, but apparently he was only carrying tortilla dough and cooking flour, according to news reports.

Just odd.

Antonio Hernandez Carranza was arrested on May 1, when a Buncombe County deputy pulled up to his stopped car on the side of Interstate 240 with its hazard lights on, according to Fox Carolina. He was allegedly on his way to see family in Johnson City, Tenn.

Carranza allegedly drove away when police approached and led the officers on a three mile chase. After narcotics dog smelled something in Carranza's baggage, officers checked the bags and determined it was cocaine. But, according to Fox Carolina, when a State Bureau of Investigation lab tested the materials, the results were negative for narcotics. It was actually tortilla dough and cooking flour.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan said the cocaine charges against Carranza were dropped, but he did plead guilty to failure to stop for officers.

14 comments:

Matt said...

whoever sold him that probably made $100,000 off that deal, but it turned out to be a good deal for both of them because if that was real he would be facing 10yrs in the pen

Andy said...

For 91 pounds of coke he made more than $100k

Spencer said...

Correct me if I'm not getting what I should out of the events portrayed in the piece.
He was arrested for fleeing police. They found cocaine, tacked on that charge but later took it off.

Perhaps blame is due to a copy editor, but the headline should not read as it does. This just fishes for outcry over racial profiling (otherwise, as writers and copy editors, we are taught that there is no reason to include race). The headline should read something like, "Hispanic man charged with possession of cocaine; turns out to be tortilla dough"

I don't imagine they would let someone off for fleeing police if there was nothing else wrong.

Michael Procton said...

And what have minorities been doing over the past 50 years if not fishing for outcry?

marquez said...

Hey Michael Procton--
It seems to me that minorities have been busy serving as CEOs, establishing multi-million dollar companies, supporting families, and, oh yeah, serving as President of the United States within the past 50 years.
Maybe it's time to embrace the fact that diversity is a strength, not a weakness.

Wiley Coyote said...

I'll have the #2 lunch special with a Diet Coke...

Oh and can I have more chips, please?

Paul Sullivan said...

There goes 15 seconds of my life I'll never get back.

Unknown said...

@MichaelProcton
My mom just turned 49. She recalls her family not being allowed to sit in a cafeteria to eat while passing through the South in route from NY as a little girl. Let's not pretend the playing field has been even or resembled anything close to even for the entire past 50 years. Idiot.

Unknown said...

Buncombe county needs to hire a new dog. The one they have has a bad smeller.

Lana said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rea Road Neighborhood Coalition said...

I think there is a little more to this story than the drug dog hit on flour by mistake.

I'd bet a round at Ed's that the dog had a hit, but the cops went for the biggie and missed the 3 grams he had in his pocket.

D'oh!

Jim Alger said...

The dog "hit" o the flour... yea riiiiiiiiiiiight. Cause they cant teach the dog to "hit" on command. I've had this happen to me in Louisiana when a dog "hit" on pot. Of course there wasn't any but it gave the cop the "right" to toss my car.

Three words for thesgeniusus officers, Field Test Kit. That said, running from the police is never a good idea. Had he not ran, he'havere a pretty good lawsuit.

Anonymous said...

How about pleading guilty to being in the country illegally?

stfree said...

@ Hogan
How about he's a legal resident.