Maybe he should try Tic-Tacs.
Just weeks after NYPD cops were accused of mistaking Jolly Ranchers for methamphetamine, a Brooklyn man claims cops thought his “Pow!” brand breath mints were Ecstasy pills — and tossed him in the slammer.
Ron Hankins, 46, was walking along Herkimer Avenue in April when a group of NYPD officers stopped to search him without cause, according to a Brooklyn federal court complaint.
Officers went through his pockets and found some loose white pellets and demanded an explanation, the suit states.
“Mr. Hankins explained to the officers that what they had found were mints and not drugs and asked the officers look at and smell them to confirm,” the suit states.
“He told them to break them up, to sniff them, to do whatever they had to do,” said Hankins’ attorney, Gabriel Harvis. “But they didn’t.”
Instead, Hankins was handcuffed and taken to a local precinct for possession of MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
After spending 30 hours behind bars, Hankins was eventually released, according to the suit.
He later demanded that prosecutors provide evidence that he was carrying ecstasy — but the raps were dropped in October.
“There are groups of people in this city who can carry as many breath mints as they want without being interrogated and arrested,” Harvis said.
“Fresh breath is not a crime. It’s unthinkable that mints from Walgreens could be confused for Ecstasy pills. All the officers needed to do was smell them. They’re wintergreen.”