Police body camera footage showing officers conducting an invasive search for marijuana has surfaced in New Jersey. John Paff, an open government advocate, discovered the footage while filing public record requests across the state. Paff quickly published the footage, which went public on Tuesday. Did police sexually assault man during roadside search for marijuana?
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Jack Levine was driving to work down Burlington Country Road when New Jersey state troopers pulled him over. Levine ultimately walked away from the incident with a citation for tailgating.
But that was after more than a half-hour ordeal where troopers searched Levine’s vehicle and the intimate areas of his person multiple times. The officers said Levine reeked of cannabis.
The video, which went public Tuesday, shows the two arresting officers, Andrew Whitmore and Joseph Drew, going to extraordinary lengths to find the marijuana they suspected Levine of possessing.
According to a report by New Jersey 101.5, Levine was traveling with a passenger, a co-worker. The officers at the scene separated Levin and his passenger. At the start of the video, Whitmore presses Levine’s passenger to give up the location of the marijuana.
Audio from the video presents Whitmore assuring the suspect that “it’s not like TV” and cannabis possession won’t land him in jail. But Levin’s passenger insists there’s no marijuana.
The two troopers, Whitmore and Drew, then turn their attention to Levine. “The dude that I removed, the driver, I moved him and put him in the back of my vehicle. My vehicle reeks,” Whitmore says in the video.
The rest of the video, reflecting Whitmore’s perspective, shows the two troopers discussing where they believe Levine has allegedly