Pubdate: Thu, 22 Mar 2012
Source: Tucson Weekly (AZ)
Copyright: 2012 Tucson Weekly
Contact:  http://www.tucsonweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/462
Author: J. M. Smith

Problematic Pipe

A Man Faces DUI, Paraphernalia Charges After a Tpd Officer Allegedly 
Ignores the Man's MMJ Card

A few days before Christmas, Tom Cadamagnani decided to help a friend 
who was down on her luck. The former Marine and his friend jumped in 
his truck and headed for the Salvation Army to get some presents for 
her grandkids.

They never got there.

A Tucson police officer stopped Cadamagnani, 50, on Dec. 20 for a 
minor registration glitch, saw a pipe in his truck, and cited the 
medical-marijuana patient for an expired registration, DUI and 
possession of drug paraphernalia. The expired registration was a 
record-keeping glitch that has since been cleared up, Cadamagnani said.

He admitted smoking one hit of MMJ-more than six hours before he was 
pulled over. He said he failed a field-sobriety test because he has a 
detached meniscus and torn ligaments in his knee-the exact reason he 
has the MMJ card in the first place. He is awaiting a knee 
replacement and uses MMJ in lieu of painkillers that were attacking his liver.

I spoke with Tucson Police Department Sgt. Maria Hawke about 
department policies.

There was no mention of an MMJ card, which Cadamagnani said he 
presented, in Officer David Danielson's report. The TPD procedure for 
such cases is clear, said Hawke: When a medical-marijuana patient 
presents a card, the arresting officer is to call the TPD records 
section to confirm the information.

"If the officer failed to include it in his report, or didn't follow 
procedures as far as verifying it, then that would be dealt with 
internally," she said.

If Cadamagnani presented an MMJ card, then the pipe charge was not 
appropriate, Hawke said.

Cadamagnani wonders why Officer Danielson even ran his license plate. 
The tags were current, and the officer's report mentions no moving 
violation or other illegal traffic moves.

"He called it a random registration check. I thought I was completely 
legal," Cadamagnani said.

He tells this tale: The trouble started when Danielson walked up to 
the car, and Cadamagnani was opening the door to talk, because his 
window doesn't work. The officer tersely told him to stay in the car, 
and immediately asked if Cadamagnani had just come from buying meth, 
had been using meth, or had any in the car. Danielson then asked if 
he could search the car. Only then did he ask for a driver's license, 
which Cadamagnani gave him.

Then, Cadamagnani, whose father had died a month earlier, started to 
tear up. He's broke; it's Christmas; his dad just died; and now he is 
getting a ticket for a pipe he thought was legal because of his MMJ card.

"Then all of a sudden, because I was crying, (the officer) says, 'Is 
something wrong with you, sir? Have you been drinking?'" Cadamagnani said.

In a report written after the incident, Danielson relates his 
suspicion. Cadamagnani got upset and pleaded with the officer not to 
give him a ticket. "Thomas appeared to be very jumpy which made me 
feel either he was under the influence of something or hiding 
something in the vehicle that he did not want me to find," Danielson wrote.

Fearing the situation could escalate, Danielson called for a backup 
officer. A second officer arrived and waited with Cadamagnani while 
Danielson wrote the citations in his squad car. From the car, 
Danielson again noted Cadamagnani was crying in his truck.

"I felt he could possibly be under the influence of unknown substance 
due him (sic) having an un-normal (sic) behavior," Danielson wrote in 
the report.

Then the officer told Cadamagnani that if he refused a field-sobriety 
test, he would take him to jail.

"So I thought I would try," he said. He failed.

Since December, Cadamagnani has been waiting for results of a blood 
test. His public defender, Cynthia Richardson, has so far declined 
her client's requests to ask for a dismissal of the case. He thinks 
he was targeted and harassed because he fit a stereotypical tweaker 
profile-a white guy with a shaved head in a beater vehicle.

There are always two sides, and I haven't heard the entire TPD side. 
All I have are police reports and breath tests showing a 0.00 
blood-alcohol level. It seems like Officer Danielson overreacted. No, 
the MMJ statute doesn't protect patients from arrest for 
paraphernalia. No, the paraphernalia statute doesn't make an 
exception for MMJ patients, even though Hawke said the charge may not 
have been appropriate.

Police officers use discretion every day, and this looks like a case 
of poor discretion.
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