THIS CASE HAS BECOME A REAL PILL

You can't deny that on the night of Aug. 1, a small group of newbie
Tampa police officers who were being guided in a field training
experience by Cpl. J.S. Wester learned a valuable lesson at the
expense of auto mechanic Kevin Connolly.

And it is this: If you are going to deny someone their liberty, it
probably is a good idea to throw them into the hoosegow based on a
law that exists.

Connolly, 45, found himself in the role of "Law & Order's" answer to
show and tell after he was awakened to learn his place of business,
K.B.K. Auto Repair, on North Armenia Avenue, had been plowed into by
a vehicle driven by a 16-year-old lass.

"I was tired. I had taken an Ambien sleeping pill," Connolly
recalled, adding that when he arrived at his business, he was shocked
by the damage.

Officers took Connolly's car keys and discovered a container of pills
- - morphine and oxycodene. "And that was it," Connolly said, adding
that he uses the prescription drugs to ease the pain of a
degenerative hip problem.

The gendarmes were neither moved nor amused.

Moments later, Connolly's wife, Kerri, arrived on the scene and
attempted to explain to Wester, as her husband had done, that the
medications all were legally obtained by prescription.

She insists she offered to produce the prescriptions for the drugs,
but she, too, was rebuffed. Look it Up

Still, Connolly was charged with possessing and concealing a
controlled substance and driving under the influence, although his
blood alcohol reading was 0.03, well below the 0.08 level at which
charges can be filed.

"This was ridiculous," Connolly said. "A car hits my building, and
I'm the one in jail."

It only got more ridiculous.

Tampa Police Department flack Laura McElroy declined to produce
Wester for comment. Wester's supervisor, Capt. Russ Marcotrigiano,
insisted everything that occurred on Aug. 1 regarding these pills was
perfectly peachy.

"The law says they can't be mixed up," the captain said.

Oh, really? And what law is that?

"Look it up," Marcotrigiano said.

What a great idea.

"There's nothing that says you've got to carry a prescription
around," Hillsborough Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi said. "There
used to be a statute that said they had to be in a bottle, but it was
ruled unconstitutional."

There must be a legal term here for "Ooooops!" Less Stress

Or, put another way, Kevin Connolly spent two days sitting in the
Orient Road Jail - with a $17,500 bond hanging over his head -
charged with a parallel universe crime.

Once Connolly's attorney, John Cullaro, got before Circuit Judge
Walter Heinrich, Connolly was released on his own recognizance.

"I showed him the prescriptions," Cullaro said, adding that he
expects the drug charges against his client to be dropped.

That would be nice. Still, a man simply answering an alarm at his
business wound up having his freedom denied because someone with a
badge didn't know or care about the law.

Oh, and then there's this: The Connollys moved to Tampa from New York
because of the strains of the big city.

They were looking for a less stressful life.

Daniel Ruth's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.