This is a fine example of police throwing any charge they can think of against the wall and seeing if it sticks. It’s also pretty hilarious.
Police in Hamilton, Ontario, saw a man driving aggressively and with improper plates. For reasons I don’t quite understand, they didn’t pull him over right away, but instead kept tabs on him for a while. That turned out to be a good decision, as they saw him making several stops which turned out to be drug deals. When they eventually did stop him, they found $3500 worth of cocaine and $5700 in cash in his vehicle.
He was hit with all of the charges you would expect in a case like this. possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of proceeds over $5,000 Canadian and possession of proceeds under $5000 American.
But here’s where it gets good.
Since at the time of the incident all non-essential businesses had been ordered closed due to COVID and because drug trafficker wasn’t on the list of essentials, they also decided to ding him for violating the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act. Not sure how well that one’s going to stand up in court, but points for trying, officer.
If it does happen to stand up, it’s a $750 fine on top of whatever else he might get if found guilty on the standard drug counts.
