Police Raid Hibiscus Farm Mistaken for Cannabis
Edward and Audrey Cramer, 69 and 66, are suing the Buffalo Township, Pennsylvania Police and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. for mistaking their hibiscus farm for a cannabis farm in a raid. The Cramers filed the lawsuit on November 16 in Butler County Court naming Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., Nationwide agent Jonathan Yeamans, Buffalo Township and three of its police officers as the plaintiffs.
Both were handcuffed for hours while police tore apart their home looking for cannabis. According to the complaint, insurance agent Yeamans “intentionally photographed the flowering hibiscus plants in such a manner as not to reveal that they had flowers on them so that they would appear to resemble marijuana plants.”
When a neighbor’s tree fell onto the Cramer’s property, Yeamans took it upon himself to photograph and report the Cramer’s “cannabis” garden in their property on October 5. Worse still, the police, going off of Yeaman’s photographs of the plants, felt that was enough to raid the premises.
The police raided the property two days later with guns drawn. Buffalo Township police Officer Jeffrey Sneddon claimed that he identified the plants as cannabis.
In the complaint, Edward Cramer claims that he repeatedly told police that the plants were hibiscus plants, not cannabis. Finally, hours later, the two were released after the police determined that the plants were indeed not cannabis.
“Why couldn’t the police see what it was?” Al Lindsay, who represented the Cramers, told the Valley News Dispatch. “Being arrested, for people like this who have no history with crime and no experience with law enforcement, this is an incredibly traumatic experience.”
On October 26, Nationwide was still under the impression that the Cramers were growing cannabis, and demanded that the two remove the cannabis plants, or their insurance policy would be cancelled.
People like the Cramers didn’t deserve to see the dark side of the “War on Drugs,” especially when there was no cannabis involved. The jury trial is currently pending.
