Three police officers in Santa Ana, California are in the media spotlight after a raid on a local pot dispensary in which they were allegedly captured on video consuming pot brownies that were being sold at the dispensary.
The raid occurred on May 26, at which point medical marijuana dispensaries were still illegal in the city. Surveillance cameras appear to show the officers destroying several of the cameras but they apparently missed one. In one of the clips released by the dispensary's proprietor, a voice can be heard asking, “What flavor?” before an officer is seen unwrapping a small package and putting something in his mouth. This allegedly occurs at the 4:06 mark in the video.
The officers have now filed suit against the city of Santa Ana which seeks to prevent the use of the video in the Santa Ana Police Department's internal investigation into the incident.
The lawsuit argues that “All police personnel present had a reasonable expectation that their conversations were no longer being recorded and the undercover officers, feeling that they were safe to do so, removed their masks."
The lawyers for "Sky High" dispensary, where the raid took place, argue that the officers knew that they could potentially be on camera as they destroyed several of the recording devices during the raid.
None of the officers have been terminated at this time in the ongoing investigation.