Georgia deputies raid man's home after mistaking okra plants for marijuana

[FourScore]

Seriously? In Georgia?? You boys don't know the difference between okra and Mary Jane? Why, didn't your Mamas ever fry that slimy stuff for you all? My lord!

Mon Oct 06, 2014 at 10:15 AM PDT
Georgia deputies raid man's home after mistaking okra plants for marijuana
by Jen Hayden


Helicopter hovering over Dwayne Perry's backyard attribution: screenshot from video

Once again, from the "not The Onion" files, Georgia deputies went full SWAT to raid Dwayne Perry's home because they thought he was growing marijuana in his backyard. But, no. It was okra:

"I was scared actually, at first, because I didn't know what was happening,” said homeowner Dwayne Perry.

All he noticed was that there was a chopper sitting unusually low over his house, then Bartow County deputies and a K-9 unit appeared at his doorstep in minutes.

"They were strapped to the gills,” Perry said.

Georgia State Patrol says they still haven't identified the mysterious (and enormously popular Southern vegetable):

"We've not been able to identify it as of yet. But it did have quite a number of characteristics that were similar to a cannabis plant,” said Georgia State Patrol Capt. Kermit Stokes.

Dwayne Perry says he's still embarrassed and feels his reputation has been damaged, not to mention being terrified at how quickly something could have gone wrong.

Even if this were one small patch of homegrown marijuana, isn't this type of police response just a wee bit overkill? Especially when 75% of Americans don't even think it should be a jailable offense and 58% think it should be legal outright?

See an interview with Dwayne Perry below the fold.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/06/1334661/-Georgia-deputies-raid-man-s-home-after-mistaking-okra-plants-for-marijuana

[NickB79]

1. This is okra

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7z09SiMqQQs/UF3HwokPlaI/AAAAAAAABS8/Ku3d2w_uN8w/s1600/2012-09-20+10.32.48.jpg

Uh, not buying it, cops.

Though I've always had a concern a police officer would think something is up should I ever plant a Korean maple in my yard:

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

14. So that's what my dad was growing!

Sure tasted good; didn't know we could smoke it, too!

[RandiFan1290]

2. They also want us to think twice

before attempting to grow our own food.

They have done this before.

[Blue_Tires]

3. I'm wondering if a neighbor has a grudge against Perry

and made an "anonymous" phone call to the cops...


(It has been done before...)

[wyldwolf]

4. fry it up!

[jmowreader]

5. The only similarity between okra and marijuana is they're both green

The one on the left is an okra plant. The one on the right is not an okra plant.


Can you tell the difference? If you can, you're overqualified to work for the Bartow County Sheriff's Office.

[sendero]

13. FWIW..

..... I grow okra every year. While the stalk of the plant you have pictured here looks like my plants (Clemson Spineless), the leaves are very different and do in fact have a slight resemblance to mj.

[yesiwasacop]

6. The only defense I could offer the cops on this

is that from the air- the two plants look similar probably. I have never seen an okra plant in person, but looked it up and prob from the air they look similar.

That being said, the proper procedure and the safer way to do things is take the photos from the air to a judge and get a warrant.

While TRYING to get a warrant, do some research on the resident of the house. Cops have access to all kinds of info so its not like they couldn't figure out a little bit about this guy and who he lives with. Additionally, you have a couple cops keep an eye on the place while getting a warrant, because if he all of a sudden goes outside and tries to dispose of his "marijuana" plants, you can then stop him until the warrant is served.

Last, with warrant in hand and if you have no info to suspect the okra farmer is a bad guy (no history), you do what is called a "surround and call." Surround the property with a few cops, call inside and tell the occupant what is going on. Ask them to come outside and talk. 99% of the time they will. Tell them what you are doing and at that point you will find out what is going on. Easy, and real police agencies handle these things that way. If you still are not sure whether it is weed, find a dried portion of it and light it on fire. All cops know what it smells like while burning- hell fresh weed has its own unique smell too.

We have discovered several grow operations from the air via thermal temp measurement and water usage analysis (weed drinks lots of water and it will show on the meter). Anyway- that is how we handle those. I only remember about two of them turning out to be someone growing veggies/flowers in the house---all the rest were weed.

These guys were dumb and in a hurry. Bad police work.

[MohRokTah]

8. Busting weed is good for television time.

Nearly every weed bust I've ever read about weighed the fucking dirt along with the weed, then multiplied the total grams by what one gram of the highest priced weed goes for in order to say "the plants had a street value of $2.2 million".

Busting weed is the biggest cop racket going. Cops ought to be ashamed for busting weed.

[FourScore]

15. Welcome to DU, yesiwasacop!

And thanks for the response!

[yesiwasacop]

17. thanks

[NutmegYankee]

18. Isn't thermal temp measurement (FLIR) a flat out violation of the 4th amendment?

Kyllo v. United States.

[CTyankee]

7. I plead guilty to eating okra just boiled up and in the pod whole...slime and all.

Adding just a bit of sweet butter. But then I'm from Texas.

Hubby is from WI and he thinks it is disgusting...I even like the hairyness of it...and those little white pods inside, YUM.

[MohRokTah]

9. I like pickled okra a lot

Especially when pickled with cayenne.

[CTyankee]

10. I can't eat pickled anything! Damn sodium...

[madokie]

19. We had probably our last mess for supper tonight

It wasn't a big batch just a few stragglers but was they good, slim and all. I love steamed baby okra, like you said with a bit of real butter.

[Historic NY]

11. Maybe they should have tried smoking it...

I'm from the north and I know what it looks like. Dumbasses.

[FLPanhandle]

12. What self respecting southerner doesn't know what Okra looks like?

The deputies should be ashamed of themselves.

[Rex]

16. You mean your not supposed to smoke the okra?