By Rene Stutzman
Orlando Sentinel
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orlando police officer who arrested a man after she mistook doughnut glaze for amphetamine has resigned to be a stay-at-home mom.
Shelby Riggs-Hopkins, 38, left the department Jan. 22, about a week after she was given a written reprimand for making a false arrest, records show.
She had worked at the agency for a decade.
She arrested Daniel Rushing, a retired city of Orlando employee, during a Dec. 11, 2015, traffic stop when she spotted several white specks on the floor of his car, according to his arrest report.
Rushing told her they were bits of glaze that had fallen off a doughnut, but she was unconvinced.
She did a series of roadside drug tests but got two of them wrong and handcuffed Rushing and took him to jail.
A state crime lab confirmed several months later that the specks were not an illegal substance.
Rushing hired attorney William Ruffier and has sued the city and the manufacturer of the kits, Safariland LLC.
On Thursday, the city released the department’s internal affairs report into Riggs-Hopkins’ conduct that day. OPD concluded that she made a false arrest and thus had violated department policy but had not acted with malice.
Riggs-Hopkins could not be reached for comment.
©2017 The Orlando Sentinel