Two sweet-toothed men are bitter after being mistakenly arrested for possession of crack cocaine. "I spent five days in jail for possession of coconut candy," said 33-year-old dad Cesar Rodriguez, who works as a plumber's assistant. Now he and his friend want their just desserts--they're planning a $2 million lawsuit against the NYPD, who their lawyer say was careless and didn't follow protocol.
Rodriguez and his 49-year-old co-worker Jose Pena stopped at a Bodega in the Bronx last Friday before going to a party. When they came out cops were waiting to search their van. They looked and looked and finally came up with a "Hello Kitty" sandwich bag full of the white crumbly coconut candy. As cops cuffed Rodriguez and his pal, he protested. "It's only candy," he said, but they didn't listen.
The two spent the night in jail and were arraigned on Saturday, after which Pena was released. But because Rodriguez had a previous conviction for armed robbery he couldn't make bail and didn't get out until Thursday. Their lawyer told the Daily News police should have tested the substance—which would have come back as the ubiquitous bodega candy crema de coco—and released the men immediately. "Either these two officers failed to follow procedure and were completely incompetent or they intentionally arrested these men for possession of coconut candy," he said. All charges have now been dropped, although no apology was issued.
