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Woman devastated to learn plant she’s been watering for 2 years is actually plastic
By Nelson Oliveira
New York Daily News |
Mar 04, 2020 | 11:08 AM
A California woman claims she mistakenly watered a plastic plant for two years. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Love is so blind that it made a woman care for a piece of plastic for two years.
A California stay-at-home mom who “absolutely loved” a succulent plant that she had been watering regularly in her kitchen since 2018 claims she just found out it is made of plastic.
“I feel like these last two years have been a lie,” Caelie Wilkes wrote in a devastating Facebook post last week.
The woman said Friday’s discovery came as a shock after she had dedicated so much of her time caring for a plant that she was “so proud of.”
“It was full, beautiful coloring, just an over all perfect plant,” she wrote. “I had a watering plan for it, if someone else tried to water my succulent I would get so defensive because I just wanted to keep good care of it.
“Today I decided it was time to transplant, I found the cutest vase, that suited it perfectly. I go to pull it from the original plastic container it was purchased with to learn this plant was FAKE.”
When Wilkes pulled the plant out of the vase, she learned it was “sitting on Styrofoam with sand glued to the top.”
Her post quickly went viral, with more than 6,000 shares in less than a week. But many people who replied could not understand how someone couldn’t tell the difference between a real and a plastic plant.
“Once I saw the picture I knew that was a fake plant, anyone can see,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Where did all the water go tho????” another skeptical commenter said.
But others were more sympathetic.
“I did it (too) when my daughter went on vacation and asked me to water the plants,” a supportive father wrote.
“And for the record, succulents do have a plastic quality to their look. So I totally get,” wrote another.
www.nydailynews.com
By Nelson Oliveira
New York Daily News |
Mar 04, 2020 | 11:08 AM
A California woman claims she mistakenly watered a plastic plant for two years. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Love is so blind that it made a woman care for a piece of plastic for two years.
A California stay-at-home mom who “absolutely loved” a succulent plant that she had been watering regularly in her kitchen since 2018 claims she just found out it is made of plastic.
“I feel like these last two years have been a lie,” Caelie Wilkes wrote in a devastating Facebook post last week.
The woman said Friday’s discovery came as a shock after she had dedicated so much of her time caring for a plant that she was “so proud of.”
“It was full, beautiful coloring, just an over all perfect plant,” she wrote. “I had a watering plan for it, if someone else tried to water my succulent I would get so defensive because I just wanted to keep good care of it.
“Today I decided it was time to transplant, I found the cutest vase, that suited it perfectly. I go to pull it from the original plastic container it was purchased with to learn this plant was FAKE.”
When Wilkes pulled the plant out of the vase, she learned it was “sitting on Styrofoam with sand glued to the top.”
Her post quickly went viral, with more than 6,000 shares in less than a week. But many people who replied could not understand how someone couldn’t tell the difference between a real and a plastic plant.
“Once I saw the picture I knew that was a fake plant, anyone can see,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Where did all the water go tho????” another skeptical commenter said.
But others were more sympathetic.
“I did it (too) when my daughter went on vacation and asked me to water the plants,” a supportive father wrote.
“And for the record, succulents do have a plastic quality to their look. So I totally get,” wrote another.
Woman devastated to learn plant she’s been watering for 2 years is actually plastic
Love is so blind that it made a woman care for a piece of plastic for two years. A California stay-at-home mom who “absolutely loved” a succulent plant that she had been watering regula…
www.nydailynews.com
Woman devastated to learn plant she’s been watering for 2 years is actually plastic
By Nelson Oliveira
New York Daily News |
Mar 04, 2020 | 11:08 AM
A California woman claims she mistakenly watered a plastic plant for two years. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Love is so blind that it made a woman care for a piece of plastic for two years.
A California stay-at-home mom who “absolutely loved” a succulent plant that she had been watering regularly in her kitchen since 2018 claims she just found out it is made of plastic.
“I feel like these last two years have been a lie,” Caelie Wilkes wrote in a devastating Facebook post last week.
The woman said Friday’s discovery came as a shock after she had dedicated so much of her time caring for a plant that she was “so proud of.”
“It was full, beautiful coloring, just an over all perfect plant,” she wrote. “I had a watering plan for it, if someone else tried to water my succulent I would get so defensive because I just wanted to keep good care of it.
“Today I decided it was time to transplant, I found the cutest vase, that suited it perfectly. I go to pull it from the original plastic container it was purchased with to learn this plant was FAKE.”
When Wilkes pulled the plant out of the vase, she learned it was “sitting on Styrofoam with sand glued to the top.”
Her post quickly went viral, with more than 6,000 shares in less than a week. But many people who replied could not understand how someone couldn’t tell the difference between a real and a plastic plant.
“Once I saw the picture I knew that was a fake plant, anyone can see,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Where did all the water go tho????” another skeptical commenter said.
But others were more sympathetic.
“I did it (too) when my daughter went on vacation and asked me to water the plants,” a supportive father wrote.
“And for the record, succulents do have a plastic quality to their look. So I totally get,” wrote another.
Woman devastated to learn plant she’s been watering for 2 years is actually plastic
Love is so blind that it made a woman care for a piece of plastic for two years. A California stay-at-home mom who “absolutely loved” a succulent plant that she had been watering regula…
This was actually on my local news this morning.
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge.
Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was arrested in August after U.S. Capitol Police received a tip that he made a Facebook post saying Ocasio-Cortez "should be shot." When a special agent called Ireland, he admitted posting the statement about the New York Democrat and said he was very proud of it.
Agents from the Capitol Police and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Ireland's home and found seven rounds of ammunition, according to court records. He later admitted to owning the ammunition and pleaded guilty in November to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Ireland will now be on supervised release for three years.
Man who made online threat to Ocasio-Cortez sentenced
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge. Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was …
www.nydailynews.com
A felon in possession of ammo is a thing?
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge.
Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was arrested in August after U.S. Capitol Police received a tip that he made a Facebook post saying Ocasio-Cortez "should be shot." When a special agent called Ireland, he admitted posting the statement about the New York Democrat and said he was very proud of it.
Agents from the Capitol Police and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Ireland's home and found seven rounds of ammunition, according to court records. He later admitted to owning the ammunition and pleaded guilty in November to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Ireland will now be on supervised release for three years.
Man who made online threat to Ocasio-Cortez sentenced
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge. Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was …
They hemmed him up on having 7 rounds. I had no clue that the Law went THAT far. At least the muhfucka got SOMETHING though.
Good. Get these fools on paper and I hope he lost a good paying job.
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge.
Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was arrested in August after U.S. Capitol Police received a tip that he made a Facebook post saying Ocasio-Cortez "should be shot." When a special agent called Ireland, he admitted posting the statement about the New York Democrat and said he was very proud of it.
Agents from the Capitol Police and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives searched Ireland's home and found seven rounds of ammunition, according to court records. He later admitted to owning the ammunition and pleaded guilty in November to being a felon in possession of ammunition.
Ireland will now be on supervised release for three years.
Man who made online threat to Ocasio-Cortez sentenced
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man accused of making an online threat to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to time served on a weapons charge. Timothy Ireland, 42, of Toledo, was …
[h=2]Montana teenager, 14, pleads not guilty to killing his 12-year-old nephew but 'admits kicking the boy in the head multiple times in the days before his death'[/h]
- James Sasser III, 14, pleaded not guilty to felony deliberate homicide Thursday
- He was arrested in the death of his 12-year-old nephew, James 'Alex' Hurley
- Hurley died inside his West Yellowstone, Montana, home on February 3
- Authorities said he had bruising and trauma to the head when he died
- Sasser III said he got into a 'bad fight' with Hurley after seeing him threatening their grandmother with a knife
- He admitted kicking Hurley in the head multiple times in the 24 to 36 hours before his death, documents said
- Grandparents James Sasser Jr. and Patricia Batts were also charged in Hurley's death and are being held by authorities
- Gage Roush, 18, was also arrested and charged with felony assault on a minor in relation to Hurley's death
- Authorities later found videos of the three suspects beating Hurley with a wooden paddle and strangling him
Heroin for sure.
turn on sound
North Dakota man who raped 3-month-old girl, fractured her ribs by squeezing her sentenced to four years
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck was sentenced to four years in prison for causing 'significant injury' to a three-month-old girl
By Sushma Karra
Published on : 08:14 PST, Feb 29, 2020
Andrew Glasser (Burleigh County Sheriff’s Office)
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA: A man who was accused of abusing and raping a three-month-old girl has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck, North Dakota, has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing “significant injury” to a three-month-old girl who he assaulted and raped. The 33-year-old was charged in October 2017.
According to the court documents, the baby was rushed to a hospital in October 2017 with signs of sexual abuse, rib fractures caused by squeezing and injuries to her femur, tibia, and fibula on a leg, which were in different stages of healing.
Glasser tried defending himself by saying the injuries were caused when he pushed the baby’s legs against her stomach to “relieve gas”. The doctors refused to believe him and contacted the police.
Glasser couldn’t come up with an explanation for the injuries caused by the sexual assault, Bismarck Tribune reported.
After the 33-year-old was taken into custody, the police discovered that he had reset his phone’s settings to wipe away his internet search history. However forensic analysis revealed that he had downloaded several child sex abuse images.
Glasser’s lawyer Robert Bolinske told the court that Glasser’s life was “over as he knows it," according to Metro.
Glasser then apologized to his victims and entered into an Alford plea to his sexual assault charges. Alford plea means that Glasser doesn’t plead guilty to the court, but agrees that there is enough evidence for his conviction.
Judge David Reich said that he found the case “troubling” and pointed out, “I keep coming back to the victim. This is a very young, helpless victim.”
He then sentenced Glasser to four years in prison.
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck was sentenced to four years in prison for causing 'significant injury' to a three-month-old girl
By Sushma Karra
Published on : 08:14 PST, Feb 29, 2020
Andrew Glasser (Burleigh County Sheriff’s Office)
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA: A man who was accused of abusing and raping a three-month-old girl has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck, North Dakota, has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing “significant injury” to a three-month-old girl who he assaulted and raped. The 33-year-old was charged in October 2017.
According to the court documents, the baby was rushed to a hospital in October 2017 with signs of sexual abuse, rib fractures caused by squeezing and injuries to her femur, tibia, and fibula on a leg, which were in different stages of healing.
Glasser tried defending himself by saying the injuries were caused when he pushed the baby’s legs against her stomach to “relieve gas”. The doctors refused to believe him and contacted the police.
Glasser couldn’t come up with an explanation for the injuries caused by the sexual assault, Bismarck Tribune reported.
After the 33-year-old was taken into custody, the police discovered that he had reset his phone’s settings to wipe away his internet search history. However forensic analysis revealed that he had downloaded several child sex abuse images.
Glasser’s lawyer Robert Bolinske told the court that Glasser’s life was “over as he knows it," according to Metro.
Glasser then apologized to his victims and entered into an Alford plea to his sexual assault charges. Alford plea means that Glasser doesn’t plead guilty to the court, but agrees that there is enough evidence for his conviction.
Judge David Reich said that he found the case “troubling” and pointed out, “I keep coming back to the victim. This is a very young, helpless victim.”
He then sentenced Glasser to four years in prison.
North Dakota man who raped 3-month-old girl, fractured her ribs by squeezing her sentenced to four years
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck was sentenced to four years in prison for causing 'significant injury' to a three-month-old girl
meaww.com
CAPTURED: Fugitive Child Rape Suspect Jacob Scott Caught In Oklahoma
January 30, 2020 at 5:19 pm
Filed Under:Colorado News
(CBS4) — A fugitive suspected of raping and impregnating his 14-year-old stepdaughter, who investigators thought might be hiding in Colorado, has been captured in Oklahoma. The United States Marshal’s Service recently added 43-year-old Jacob Blair Scott to their Top 15 Most Wanted List.
Jacob Scott (credit: U.S. Marshal’s Service)
Investigators believed Scott faked his own death by launching a boat with a suicide note and a gun off the coast of Orange Beach, Alabama, in July 2018. Investigators found his abandoned dinghy, but “little forensic evidence indicating a suicide.” His remains were never recovered — and authorities later discovered Scott had withdrawn $45,000 from a bank account before his disappearance.
“His military background and knowledge of the outdoors may enable him to live off the grid,” the Marshal’s Service warned.
Jacob Scott (credit: U.S. Marshal’s Service)
“Within hours of our announcement and our plea to the public for information, a tipster called the Pushamataha Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma and said a man fitting the description of Jacob Scott was staying in an RV park,” Inspector Jeremy Stilwell, the lead investigator on the case for the U.S. Marshals, stated. “We then worked with the local authorities to develop a plan for his arrest.”
“This all-out media blitz led to a critical citizen tip that ultimately resulted in the fastest apprehension of a fugitive in the 37-year history of the 15 Most Wanted program,” said U.S. Marshals Assistant Director for Investigative Operations Jeff Tyler.
“They let me know early, early that they caught him,” the Sun Herald quoted the mother of the child victim as saying. “They said he was living in a camper. We are happy. We are very happy and my daughter just cried. She feels safe now.”
Scott is currently being held at the Pittsburg County Jail in Oklahoma awaiting extradition back to Mississippi. He faces a 14-count indictment charging him with sexual battery, touching a child for lustful purposes, and exploitation of a child.
There had been reported possible sightings of Scott in Mississippi, Colorado, Nevada, and Louisiana.
Authorities are now working to determine if anyone helped Scott in his attempt to fake his own death and avoid capture, the Sun Herald reported.
CAPTURED: Fugitive Child Rape Suspect Jacob Scott Caught In Oklahoma
Scott was wanted by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi for sexual battery, touching a child for lustful purposes, and exploitation of a child.
denver.cbslocal.com
4 years!!!!!!! I know people that got more time than that for weed.North Dakota man who raped 3-month-old girl, fractured her ribs by squeezing her sentenced to four years
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck was sentenced to four years in prison for causing 'significant injury' to a three-month-old girl
By Sushma Karra
Published on : 08:14 PST, Feb 29, 2020
Andrew Glasser (Burleigh County Sheriff’s Office)
BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA: A man who was accused of abusing and raping a three-month-old girl has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck, North Dakota, has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing “significant injury” to a three-month-old girl who he assaulted and raped. The 33-year-old was charged in October 2017.
According to the court documents, the baby was rushed to a hospital in October 2017 with signs of sexual abuse, rib fractures caused by squeezing and injuries to her femur, tibia, and fibula on a leg, which were in different stages of healing.
Glasser tried defending himself by saying the injuries were caused when he pushed the baby’s legs against her stomach to “relieve gas”. The doctors refused to believe him and contacted the police.
Glasser couldn’t come up with an explanation for the injuries caused by the sexual assault, Bismarck Tribune reported.
After the 33-year-old was taken into custody, the police discovered that he had reset his phone’s settings to wipe away his internet search history. However forensic analysis revealed that he had downloaded several child sex abuse images.
Glasser’s lawyer Robert Bolinske told the court that Glasser’s life was “over as he knows it," according to Metro.
Glasser then apologized to his victims and entered into an Alford plea to his sexual assault charges. Alford plea means that Glasser doesn’t plead guilty to the court, but agrees that there is enough evidence for his conviction.
Judge David Reich said that he found the case “troubling” and pointed out, “I keep coming back to the victim. This is a very young, helpless victim.”
He then sentenced Glasser to four years in prison.
North Dakota man who raped 3-month-old girl, fractured her ribs by squeezing her sentenced to four years
Andrew Glasser of Bismarck was sentenced to four years in prison for causing 'significant injury' to a three-month-old girlmeaww.com
I GUARANTEE they are Trump supporters and white supremacists. The scourge of the world who somehow think they are better than everyone.
Man accidentally shoots himself outside gun show at St. Charles Convention Center
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (KMOV.com) -- A man accidentally shot himself outside the St. Charles Convention Center Saturday afternoon.
The convention center is hosting a 2-day gun and knife show this weekend.
Crews responded to the convention center's parking lot for an accidental shooting around 1:30 p.m.
A 21-year-old man had accidentally shot himself in the left lower leg.
The man was transported with non-life threatening injuries.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. (KMOV.com) -- A man accidentally shot himself outside the St. Charles Convention Center Saturday afternoon.
The convention center is hosting a 2-day gun and knife show this weekend.
Crews responded to the convention center's parking lot for an accidental shooting around 1:30 p.m.
A 21-year-old man had accidentally shot himself in the left lower leg.
The man was transported with non-life threatening injuries.
If that was my daughter, he be dead in five.
An influencer filmed herself licking a plane toilet seat for 'clout' on TikTok as part of a 'coronavirus challenge'
Ava Louise posted the video on Twitter, and it shows her lick the seat then give the camera a pout and two peace signs.
An influencer filmed herself licking a plane toilet seat for 'clout' on TikTok as part of a 'coronavirus challenge'
ldodgson@businessinsider.com (Lindsay Dodgson),INSIDER 2 hours 34 minutes ago
- Influencer Ava Louise filmed herself licking a plane seat toilet, starting a bizarre "coronavirus challenge."
- "Please RT this so people can know how to properly be sanitary on the airplane," she said.
- She told Insider she did it because she didn't want coronavirus getting more attention than her.
- "What's not gunna make people sad is a hot rich blonde 20-something-year-old licking a toilet," she said. "It's not like the virus can kill me anyway because I don't use Facebook."
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Ava Louise has appeared on Dr Phil and has over 19,000 TikTok followers and 150,000 Instagram followers. She posted the video to her Twitter on March 14.
"Please RT this so people can know how to properly be sanitary on the airplane," she said with love and sweating emojis.
People responded with disgust that she would do such a thing just for the attention. "The whites are at it again," one person said, while another simply responded: "Classy."
A day later, Ava Louise confirmed that she started the coronavirus challenge for "clout," and that her actions were no worse than "eating a dude's ass."
"I can't get coronavirus," she added. "Just like the gays, rich blonde bitches are IMMUNE."
Surprisingly, Ava Louise also started spreading awareness of important social issues.
"OK so now that you're all on my page — racism is bad," she tweeted. "Gay people are good. Transphobia is grosser than me licking a toilet. Good day."
Ava Louise told Insider she licked the toilet seat because she was "tired of some bitch named corona getting more publicity than ME." She added that "hot blondes" can recover from anything so there's "no harm done."
"The xenophobia makes me sad," she said. "What's not gunna make people sad is a hot rich blonde 20-something-year-old licking a toilet. It's not like the virus can kill me anyway because I don't use Facebook."
"It was iconic," she added. "ALS bucket challenge could never ... Period."
Overall, her video pretty much had the desired effect, she said.
"I just wanted more attention than this corona bitch but she's GOOD," she said. "So I capitalized off her. And now I'm like global news. My mom told me she's proud of me I shed light on pandemic while wearing Fendi sunglasses ... The serve."
The video has also helped her song "Skinny Legend Anthem" go even more viral, she said, with TikTok megastars like Chase Hudson (lilhuddy) using it in their videos.
Swab tests have shown the most bacteria and fungal spores on a plane are found on the headrest, seatbelt buckle, tray table, and inside handle of the washroom door. There are probably also more things to catch at check-in than in the bathrooms, and toilet seats may actually be comparatively quite clean.
That's not to say you should go around licking things. But as travelling is always a fairly germy experience, hopefully Ava Louise is going to be OK.
A remorseful 71-year-old man who robbed a Kansas City, Kan., bank last September and told police he hoped to land in prison to escape his wife told a federal judge Tuesday that heart surgery had left him depressed and unlike himself when he committed the crime.
Though Lawrence John Ripple pleaded guilty to bank robbery in January and could have spent up to 37 months in prison, his attorney and federal prosecutors asked a U.S. District Court judge for leniency. That request was supported by the vice president of the bank and the teller whom Ripple frightened, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Catania.
U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia sentenced Ripple on Tuesday to six months of home confinement after public defender Chekasha Ramsey and Catania cited Ripple’s health issues, remorse and unlikeliness to reoffend.
Ripple will also serve three years of supervised probation, including 50 hours of community service. He was ordered to pay $227.27 to the bank he robbed — the amount representing the billable hours for bank employees who were sent home on the day of robbery — and $100 to a crime victims fund.
Ripple’s story gained national attention last fall when he walked into the Bank of Labor, located a block away from the Kansas City, Kan., police headquarters, and gave a note to the teller. It read: “I have a gun, give me money,” according to court documents.
After the teller gave Ripple $2,924, Ripple sat down in the bank lobby to wait for police, and later told authorities that he had written out a robbery note in front of his wife and told her he would rather be in jail than at home.
Ramsey told a judge Tuesday that before the September incident, Ripple had lived a law-abiding life. He had no criminal record, was a dutiful father to four step-children and was in a stable relationship with his wife.
He suffered from depression after undergoing a quadruple bypass heart surgery in 2015, Ramsey said. The depression remained undiagnosed and manifested as irritability, so Ripple didn’t think to report his symptoms to a doctor.
Calling the robbery a “cry for help,” Ramsey said that Ripple has since been properly diagnosed, is on proper medication and feels like his normal self again.
“Mr. Ripple understands what he did and he respects the law as indicated by his past behavior,” said Ramsey, who told the judge that Ripple had also been attending mandated counseling sessions with his wife.
Accompanied by his wife and several family members Tuesday, Ripple appeared remorseful and apologized to both Bank of Labor and the bank teller. He declined to talk to The Star.
“It was not my intention to frighten her (the teller) as I did,” Ripple said in court Tuesday.
Ripple said that he felt better after finding the right medication and said prison would be more of a punishment for his wife than for him.
“I feel great now,” Ripple said. “I feel like my old self.”
Both Murguia and Catania said that it was extremely uncommon for a person convicted of bank robbery to receive a sentence that doesn’t involve prison time. Catania said she had only requested the court to consider other sentencing options in two other occasions throughout her career.
“What’s got lost in the news reports is that Mr. Ripple went to a bank, robbed it and never left,” Catania said.
When a bank security guard and police found him, Catania said, he immediately returned the money. Though he had threatened the bank teller with a gun, the only items found on his person were nail clippers and a hair brush.
Katy Bergen: 816-234-4120, @KatyBergen
Tony Rizzo: 816-234-4435, @trizzkc
A New York Police Officer Was Caught on Camera Apparently Planting Marijuana in a Car — for the Second Time
Alice Speri
March 18 2020, 6:15 p.m.
Video by Travis Mannon
When a police officer in Staten Island was caught by his own body camera in the apparent act of planting marijuana in the car of a group of young men, the video evidence against him was strong enough to prompt prosecutors in the resulting case to throw out the marijuana charge in the middle of a pretrial hearing. A judge cut short his testimony, and prosecutors recommended he get a lawyer. But an internal review by the New York Police Department found that no misconduct had occurred.
Now a new video — published exclusively by The Intercept — shows the same officer again seemingly planting marijuana during a different traffic stop just a few weeks after the first, raising questions about the credibility of internal review processes and highlighting the lack of transparency in cases of police misconduct. The video, which didn’t emerge for nearly two years, also underscores the limited information available not just to the public but also defendants, and validates criticism by police accountability advocates that body cameras are of no use if the evidence they capture remains inaccessible.
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On both occasions, two officers — Kyle Erickson and Elmer Pastran, of the 120th Precinct — stopped cars for minor traffic infractions, then claimed the vehicles smelled like marijuana. In both instances, body camera footage shows the officers extensively searching the cars for several minutes and finding nothing. In the first incident, in February 2018, Erickson’s body camera is then suddenly switched off and then back on just as he discovers a marijuana cigarette that did not appear to be there when his partner was first searching the car. The New York Times published that video later that year after attorneys for the driver, Lasou Kuyateh, obtained it through discovery. Kuyateh, who in the video can be heard shouting that Erickson is “putting something in my car,” was arrested and spent two weeks in jail. He fought the charges in court, and late last year he began proceedings to sue the city for $1 million over the incident.
But Jason Serrano, the man arrested during the second stop, in March 2018, took a plea deal to avoid jail time and didn’t learn of the footage’s existence until earlier this year, when attorneys with the Legal Aid Society showed it to him. “There’s nothing to say, the video speaks for itself,” Serrano told me during a recent interview. “I didn’t have no marijuana, I had no weed, I had no drugs, I wasn’t driving, it wasn’t my car, the taillight wasn’t broken.”
The car’s driver, who was issued a summons even though she would have normally been the one charged for the marijuana found in the car, could not be reached for comment. Erickson and Pastran did not respond to The Intercept’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for the NYPD declined to comment. The Richmond County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Jason Serrano, photographed at the Legal Aid Society office in Staten Island, N.Y., on Feb. 13, 2020.
Photo: Ariel Zambelich/The Intercept
“We Gotta Find Something”
Serrano was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend’s car when Erickson and Pastran stopped them. The officers later claimed the car had a broken taillight, but according to Serrano, the officers had been further up the road and made a U-turn to pull up by the car, and they couldn’t have seen the taillight from that position. As soon as the driver rolled down the window, Erickson and Pastran claimed the car smelled “like weed” and ordered her and Serrano out, both officers’ camera feeds show. The videos then show Serrano, who was recovering from abdominal surgery after being stabbed, lifting his clothes to show his wound to Erickson and telling him “I can barely move” (“I don’t want to see that,” the officer responds). Once out of the car, the officers demand to search Serrano’s jacket and he refuses, telling them “There’s nothing in there. … I’m not getting searched for no reason.” As Serrano grows agitated, the officers become more aggressive, grab him, push him to the ground, and handcuff him.
“They said I was resisting arrest, but I just didn’t want to hit the floor, the only thing I was thinking about was this,” Serrano said during a recent interview, pointing to his stomach. “I still had staples in me. … I couldn’t even stand up straight.”
As Serrano curls up on the sidewalk, bleeding from his wound, and as more officers and bystanders gather on the scene waiting for an ambulance, Pastran searches Serrano’s jacket. “We gotta find something,” Erickson tells him. The footage then shows Erickson using a flashlight to search around the front seat where Serrano had been seated. When he finds nothing, he can be heard murmuring an expletive to himself before returning to Pastran to ask him, “Should I search the whole thing?” Erickson again returns to the car and continues to meticulously search it, while Pastran briefs a supervisor who has arrived on the scene. Erickson then appears to place something in the car’s drink holder, before opening the front seat’s console and a small toiletry box. Erickson then says “I smell a little weed” just as he appears to pick up and move the little bud he seemed to have dropped in the drink holder moments earlier. Erickson then searches the back of the car, and when Pastran approaches, the two exchange a charged look as Erickson tells Pastran “I see nothing. … You know what I mean?” He then returns to search the front seat area for a third time, this time dropping a larger bud in the drink holder and saying, “There’s a little bit of weed.” He then again returns to the car console, opening a wallet and continuing to search where he had already looked. “Good?” Pastran asks him. Erickson continues to fiddle with something for a couple more minutes. At the end of the search, as Serrano is about to taken away on a stretcher, it’s Erickson’s turn to ask Pastran, “You good?” The two officers then fist-bump each other.
The few words exchanged between the two officers on the occasion of Serrano’s arrest are almost identical to those they exchanged during Kuyateh’s arrest. “We have to find something. … You know what I mean?” Erickson can be heard saying in footage from the earlier stop. On that occasion, too, the search had ended with Erickson asking Pastran, “You good?”
In the first incident, Kuyateh refused prosecutors’ offers for a plea deal and continued to fight the charges. In one of several court hearings, Erickson testified that the camera had shut off at a crucial moment in the recording due to a “technical difficulty.” But Erickson’s testimony was cut short when the body camera footage was presented as evidence, and the judge called lawyers in the middle of a pretrial hearing for an off-the-record exchange. Prosecutors dropped the marijuana charge right after that exchange, and later advised the police department that Erickson might need an attorney. The judge in the case blocked Legal Aid attorneys’ subsequent efforts to discuss the video, and ultimately dismissed and sealed the case.
The police department’s internal affairs division conducted its own review of that incident and ruled that accusations of misconduct on the officers’ part were “unfounded.” A spokesperson for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, a civilian agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct, confirmed the agency received complaints stemming from both incidents, but declined to comment further. A spokesperson for the Department of Investigation, which independently oversees city government, including police, said that the “DOI is aware of the matter” regarding Erickson and Pastran, but declined to comment further. The two officers remain on patrol in Serrano’s neighborhood.
A screenshot from Officer Pastran’s body camera shows Serrano handcuffed on the sidewalk as Officer Erickson searches the car.
Screenshot: The Intercept
More Jason Serranos
Serrano spent the five days after his arrest handcuffed in a hospital room, waiting for his abdominal wound to close. When he arrived there, he recalled, a medic told police “this guy is in no condition to resist anyone.”
Yet he was charged with resisting arrest, as well as obstruction of government administration, unlawful possession of marijuana, and criminal possession of a controlled substance. That last charge stemmed from a zip-close bag police claimed they found in Serrano’s jacket — even though Erickson and Pastran can be seen repeatedly searching the jacket in the video, and finding nothing. It’s not clear what was in the bag: a laboratory analysis of its contents reviewed by The Intercept says that “federally controlled substances are indicated; however, their identification is not confirmed at this time.” Serrano and his attorneys maintain that there was no bag at all in his jacket, and body camera footage shows Erickson fiddling with Serrano’s jacket for several minutes after searching the car, although it is impossible to see what he is doing.
After leaving the hospital Serrano was sent home on supervised release. Three months later, a judge found that he had violated the terms of his release and set his bail at $500 — but Serrano couldn’t pay it, and in order to avoid jail, he agreed to plead guilty to the resisting arrest charge only. “The court put him in the position of having to make that choice of whether he was going to continue to fight charges that he knew he was innocent of, or whether liberty was more important to him,” said Christopher Pisciotta, the attorney in charge of Legal Aid’s Staten Island division. “This is something that with our bail reform laws would not have happened. And even under the old law, a judge would have been extremely reluctant to ever set bail where there was actual video proof that the person was innocent.”
Under sweeping criminal justice reforms that were recently implemented in New York state — prompting a swift backlash — prosecutors would have accessed police body camera footage within 24 hours, and Serrano’s attorneys would have received it within 15 days of his arraignment. That would have allowed them to push for the charges to be dismissed. But Serrano and his attorneys didn’t learn there was camera footage of the incident until much later.
The new laws eliminated cash bail for most defendants and put an end to prosecutors’ ability to withhold evidence until trial. But within days of their implementation on January 1, the reforms came under a string of ferocious attacks from police, prosecutors, and some pundits, and elected officials quickly began giving in to pressure and signaling their intention to scale back the reforms.
“There is a push right now to try to repeal the very laws that would have protected Jason had they been available,” said Pisciotta. “If we repeal the discovery laws and push back on what has to be turned over and when it has to be turned over, and if we expand when judges can set bail again, there are going to be more Jason Serranos. And we’re going to be right back where we were.”
Last year, New York state also passed legislation decriminalizing marijuana — reducing possession of small quantities to a violation — after officials admitted marijuana laws had long been disproportionately enforced against black and Latino New Yorkers. But while marijuana arrests have drastically dropped since then, racial disparities remain. Legal Aid attorneys have repeatedly argued against the use of marijuana “odor” to justify a stop and search. Police can currently use the smell of marijuana to legally justify searching a vehicle, but attorneys say that justification is regularly abused — and in a growing number of cases, judges have questioned the credibility of officers claiming they smelled marijuana. In a particularly explicit rebuke, a judge recently ruled in favor of two defendants in such a case, arguing that “the time has come to reject the canard of marijuana emanating from nearly every vehicle subject to a traffic stop.”
The video of Serrano’s arrest is also emblematic of the widely disputed protections afforded to officers accused of misconduct in New York state. For years, advocates have called for the repeal of a law known as “50-a,” which refers to a section of the New York Civil Rights Law that makes the personnel records of law enforcement officers “confidential and not subject to inspection or review.” The law, which has been on the books for decades, has come under scrutiny as the movement for police accountability has grown stronger. But as the public pushed for more transparency, police departments and unions countered with ever-stricter interpretations of the law, making everything from complaints of misconduct, to the findings of internal reviews, to body camera footage itself largely inaccessible to the public. Efforts to fight the law in court have failed, and the battle has since shifted to Albany, where it remains a hotly debated issue by state legislators.
“50-a protects police officers from being held accountable,” said Pisciotta. “The community should have more information about the police officers who are serving them, and they should know when an officer has done something unlawful.”
Pisciotta, who called for Pastran and Erickson’s firing, also pointed to the disparity in the information that is accessible to the public. “The officers violated several laws by planting evidence in this case and falsely arresting an innocent person, but the information that the public has is that Jason Serrano was arrested and charged with these offenses, and that information will always be in the public’s eye, out on the internet,” he said. “Meanwhile, the officers who committed these crimes, who violated the public’s trust — their information remains secret and protected.”
A screenshot from Officer Erickson’s body camera footage appears to show him dropping marijuana onto the edge of the car’s cupholder.
Screenshot: The Intercept
The incident is also likely to fuel ongoing criticism of police’s use of body camera footage. A report released last month by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which relies heavily on the footage as it investigates complaints of police misconduct, noted that officers “often failed to properly use their cameras by turning on the BWC late, turning the BWC off early, or not turning the BWC on at all,” the report noted, using an acronym for body-worn cameras. The report also confirms that officers are trained by the department to “inform other officers when their BWCs are active” — including by using nonverbal signals or code phrases like “I went Hollywood,” “Green,” and “I’m hot.”
In both incidents involving Erickson and Pastran, the officers seemed aware of their cameras — with Pastran at one point talking about Serrano getting “combative” and saying “thank God it’s on video.” After the first incident, as Pastran drove Kuyateh away, his body camera kept rolling as the teen accused Erickson of having planted evidence in his car. “The man just planted weed in my car,” Kuyateh said. “He has a camera, I have a camera. Why would he do that?” Pastran replied. “For him to do that, that would be the dumbest thing ever. He’d lose his job over a dumb arrest like this?”
But neither Erickson nor Pastran lost their jobs then, or after they stopped Serrano a couple weeks later. As Serrano watched the video of his arrest one more time, narrating over the footage, he kept shaking his head in disbelief.
“They had no reason to stop me at all, besides harassment,” he said. “They couldn’t even tell me what I did wrong. Oh, you smell weed? You smell weed because you placed the little nugget there. You smell weed because it’s on you, that’s why.”