Behind the Badge
Let’s face it, some people are not the sharpest tools in the shed, and police officers encounter people like that frequently.
Take, for example, an incident that happened in October in Omaha, Neb. Police were interviewing Thomas Hartman regarding a false reporting of a theft. Hartman was accusing his cousin of stealing cash and a cell phone from him, while at the same time his 17-year-old girlfriend was being interviewed in the room next door.
At one point, Hartman is caught on video putting a chair on the table and lifting the ceiling panels, secreting something underneath the tiles. Officers remove Hartman from the room, thinking he was attempting to escape.
Officers don’t initially see the eight small packets of cocaine fall from the ceiling panels. Later, an evidence technician enters the room to clean up and finds the drugs underneath the table.
Hartman was charged and convicted of drug possession. The prosecutor’s office allowed the video to be released last week, after Hartman was convicted.
