K-9 police units face pressure to change amid drug policy reform
ABC News
The dogs are often trained to detect multiple drugs, but alert for all in the same way.
Tae-Ahn Lea says he had no previous criminal record when the 18-year-old was pulled over for a routine traffic stop in Louisville, Kentucky, in August 2018.
Yet, he said he was forced to stand by the side of the road, handcuffed, while the Louisville Metro Police searched his car after its K-9 unit alerted police to drugs -- despite Lea insisting otherwise.
"Well, my heart dropped because I knew there wasn't drugs in that car," Lea told ABC News. "I dropped my head down … And I told them multiple times that I didn't [have drugs] when they asked me, because I didn't."
Lea said that police never found anything illegal inside the car, but for nearly 25 minutes they turned the car inside out -- even checking under the lid of his drink for contraband.
