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A former probationary cop said he falsely tested positive for cocaine after drinking some tea made from coca leaves – and now he’s suing to get his job back.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Alvaro Casado says the NYPD turned up its nose at his explanation that he’d only flunked his drug test because he innocently drank some Mate de Coca tea 12 hours before the test, and noted his other employer, the Air National Guard, bought his story hook and line.
After initially calling for Casado’s discharge, the ANG investigated his claim and then took no disciplinary action against Casado, finding the evidence “weighs in favor” that Casado “did not knowingly ingest an illegal substance.”
A spokeswoman for the city Law Department said they would review Casado’s claim.
Casado was already a Senior Airman in the ANG stationed in Newburgh last October, when he “was involved in a car accident which resulted in his being both physically and emotionally shaken up.”
Casado’s girflriend picked him at the accident scene and took him to her mother’s house, where her mom made him some Mate de Coca tea to calm his nerves. The next day Casado returned to his base, where he was informed he “would be subjected to a drug test.”
A month later, the NYPD tested him and told he was suspended, the filing says. Casado found out why the next day – he’d flunked the ANG drug test and they’d reported their findings to the NYPD. Casado said he was bewildered by the finding, and eventually discovered the tea he’d drank was made from the same base as the drug.
The suit says subsequent testing showed chemical levels that were too low to have been cocaine, but the NYPD disregarded the evidence and canned him.
The tea is popular in South America, where it’s often used to combat altitude sickness, and some versions of it are sold – and legal – in the United States.