Police, Dogs Confuse Tortilla Flour With Cocaine

Poor Antonio Hernandez Carranza was just minding his own business, trying to get to Tennessee when he made a wrong turn through North Carolina. That’s when he became embroiled in a case of mistaken identity — police dogs confused the 91 pounds of tortilla flour he was transporting with cocaine after police dogs alerted to narcotics.

But, the plot thickens! As we learned back in January, police dogs like to racially profile Latinos. Or, at least according to a study out of Illinois, dog handlers are more likely to use police dogs to find “drugs” on Latinos, even when they don’t have drugs, as was the case here. So, combine a little bit of racial profiling with a language barrier, and you get:

Antonio Hernandez Carranza was arrested on May 1, when a Buncombe County deputy found his car, with its hazard lights on, stopped on the side of Interstate 240.Deputies said Carranza drove away when they knocked on his window, and that they had to chase him at 45 mph, for three miles. They said when Carranza stopped, they had to pull him out of the car.

Deputies said Carranza appeared intoxicated, though he was later deemed sober by a Breathalyzer test. They said a narcotics dog alerted officers to check Carranza’s baggage, and multiple narcotics field tests determined that the substances were cocaine.

If Carranza looked different, spoke English or didn’t otherwise make police in North Carolina uncomfortable, I have doubts that this would have happened. Who knows, what do you think?

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD