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Judges: Pot Meatball Cop Cannot Return To His NYPD Job
By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 4, 2010
Modified Feb 4, 2010
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Feb 4, 2010
Modified Feb 4, 2010
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A court has ruled against a police officer who claims he was wrongfully fired from the NYPD after he unknowingly ate marijuana-laced meatballs. A state appeals court upheld the dismissal of Anthony Chiofalo, a 22-year veteran of the NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force, who says he only failed a random drug test because his wife had laced his meatballs with weed in an attempt to get him fired so he wouldn't be killed at work.
Chiofalo contested the original verdict and sued in December 2007, but a panel of judges agreed that the high levels of marijuana found in his hair samples couldn't have been caused by accidental ingestion or second-hand smoke, the Daily News reports. They also dismissed his claims that the NYPD's contract with the police union doesn't allow the use of hair-sample drug tests.
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