Man says police mistook aspirin for Ecstasy, settles lawsuit

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) – The city of Fort Lauderdale will award a man $30,000 in a settlement after the man said he was arrested when police mistook his aspirin for Ecstasy pills.

The Sun Sentinel (http://bit.ly/21cNYlz ) reports commissioners agreed to settle the suit on Tuesday. Thirty-seven-year-old Antonio Grant sued the city and police officers Jared Gross and Steven Johnson last year, claiming false arrest, battery and unlawful search during a 2013 traffic stop.

The suit says Grant was pulled over, handcuffed, had his pockets searched and that an officer checked his rectum for drugs.

Officer Gross says Grant reached in the glove compartment where Gross recovered the suspected drugs. He says that from his training, he recognized the pills as Ecstasy pills.

Grant’s attorney Hugh Koerner says it was outrageous that Grant was jailed.