New Jersey state troopers were so determined to find marijuana on a man they had pulled over that one of them donned gloves and reached inside the man’s pants, probing his anus and genitals as the man screamed in protest.
When they found nothing, they told him they were going to arrest him anyway on the charge of “odor of marijuana,” which they claimed was a New Jersey law.
There is no such law, but for years, cops have used the “odor of marijuana” claim to justify violating people’s Constitutional rights.
After all, it is impossible to prove in court whether or not they did, indeed, smell weed, so cops have learned to just lie about smelling marijuana in the hopes they’ll get lucky.
The incident, which was captured on body cam, took place last year, but did not come to light until the man filed a complaint in January, threatening to sue, according to the [Philadelphia Inquirer](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/new-jersey-trooper-pot-search-joseph-drew-underwear-20180403.html) – which refers to the man as a victim of sexual assault.
> The man, whose name is being withheld by the Inquirer and Daily News because the newspapers do not identify victims of alleged sexual assaults without their permission, later said in an affidavit that the trooper “groped my genitalia and moved my private parts around,” and touched the crack of his buttocks. “It was the most humiliating experience I’ve ever been through, also due to the fact that people were driving by very slowly,” he said.
> The videos were obtained by John Paff, who runs the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s Open Government Advocacy Project. He frequently requests court documents and police videos and posts them on his website, [NJ Open Government Notes](http://njopengovt.blogspot.com/). The videos include footage from the dashboard and body cameras of the trooper and his backup, Trooper Andrew Whitmore.
> Lt. Theodore Schafer, a state police spokesman, said the agency has launched an internal affairs investigation into the traffic stop, which occurred on March 8, 2017. The troopers are still on active patrol pending the results of the probe, Schafer said. He said the troopers have been with the state police about three years.
> Schafer said the incident came to the attention of the state police in late January, when the motorist filed a tort claim – or notice of intent to sue – contending that his civil rights were violated during the roadside search.
The condensed video that has been edited to less than two minutes can be viewed above. The full video can be [viewed here.](https://youtu.be/nNkqQsS-yBY)
Prior to the invasive search, New Jersey State Trooper Andrew Whitmore told the man, “If you think this is the worst I’m going to do, you have another thing coming, my friend.”
The cops had pulled him over for tailgating, which is what they cited him for before releasing him. The citation was later dismissed in court.