For police, it was nuts to believe lump in man’s crotch wasn’t drugs

While the man maintained the large hardened lump in his groin were his testicles, Niagara police had their suspicions.

“Considering the size, if those were his testicles, he’d be taken to the hospital,” Judge David Wolfe said, referring to what police noted following the arrest of Tiroune Hazel in fall 2018.

In order to rule out the possibility Hazel was packing a weapon or drugs in his crotch,

Niagara Regional Police conducted a strip search and discovered a large quantity of fentanyl, crack cocaine and cocaine in the man’s underwear.

The drugs had an estimated street value of more than $12,000.

In Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines Wednesday, Wolfe found the defendant guilty of two drug-trafficking charges. The Toronto resident is scheduled to return to court in June for sentencing.

Hazel’s lawyer had argued the strip search violated his client’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in that he didn’t have the opportunity to call counsel prior to the search. The federal prosecutor said police conducted the strip search soon after he was brought to the police station because the lump may have been a weapon or drugs, which posed a safety risk to both police and the defendant.

Wolfe said Wednesday that strip searches are “inherently embarrassing and degrading,” however, police had reasonable grounds to justify the exercise. “The manner in which the strip search was conducted was not unreasonable and not a violation of Mr. Hazel’s rights.”

Hazel, 23, was arrested in October 2018 after police received information from a confidential informant regarding the sale of fentanyl, cocaine and crack cocaine in St. Catharines.

Upon his arrest, court heard, police conducted a “pat down” and discovered two cellphones and a wad of cash.

The judge said the arresting officer also came across a hard object in the man’s groin area “which in his view was not part of Mr. Hazel’s anatomy.”

“Mr. Hazel said he was grabbing his testicles but the officer was confident he had not grabbed the man’s testicles,” the judge said.

The defendant was transported to the police station where police conducted the strip search and located the drugs stashed in a compartment sewn into his underwear.