A Sarasota County Deputy has recently come under scrutiny for the way he handled a traffic stop, which was caught on tape by a camera mounted on the deputy’s dashboard. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune obtained raw footage of the traffic stop, during which Deputy Dominic Fornal pulled over a silver Jaguar driven by Joseph McNeal on suspicion of impaired driving.
Deputy Fornal reported he smelled a “strong and distinct odor of unburned cannabis” emanating from the car. This, despite the windows of the Jaguar being rolled up and the police cruiser a notable distance away. After executing an extremely invasive search of the vehicle involving two other officers and a police dog, police found no evidence of unburned marijuana in the body of the car. During the course of their search, the suspect alleges that the officers did considerable damage to his car that will require costly repairs.
Despite finding no evidence of the suspected crime precipitating the initial traffic stop, Deputy Fornal arrested McNeal on unrelated DUI charges. Chemical testing showed McNeal had a BAC of only .049, well below the Florida minimum of .08.
This case highlights some serious problems arising in the course of a traffic stop. Not only is the Deputy’s judgment in question in this instance, but also his methods of interrogation and some seemingly flagrant false statements he makes. Perhaps most problematic, Deputy Fornal has reportedly been placed back on patrol without a dashboard camera in his car to record potential similar incidents.
In the following days, we will be shedding some light on false statements made by law enforcement officers during the course of a DUI investigation and arrest. We rely on law enforcement to provide truthful accounts of situations, and revelations like those shown in this video are extremely damaging to the good-faith relationship citizens hold with law enforcement.
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