Busted for selling crack, a New York smoke shop owner used his surveillance system to prove he was set up by a police informant. Donald Andrews, the owner of the shop, says his lawyer will file a wrongful arrest suit against the city, seeking $500,000 from the police department, county and the village. Andrews opened up Dabb City Smoke Shop in Scotia, New York last January. By April he was arrested for selling crack cocaine. In one of his few media interviews since the arrest, Andrews told us about the set up. The Arrest A police informant, James Slater, visited the shop on March 25th and 29th and said on both occasions he bought crack from Andrews. He provided cell phone photos of crack rocks on the front counter of the shop. Around April 11, police raided the shop and arrested Andrews . From the very beginning Andrews asserted his innocence.“I kept telling them that I had video, and I could show them that never happened and that I wasn’t selling drugs. The cops said there was no need for that — that they had me on video, and they had audio. They said, ‘We don’t need to watch your video,’ but the confiscated my system anyway,” he said. He was in jail for five days before he made bail. When he got out, he contacted a lawyer. Grand Jury, Hearing Prosecutors Refuse to Return DVR At his grand jury hearing, he says he testified that he had video […]

Source ipvm.com