SAN ANTONIO – A couple initially charged with marijuana possession in late January said San Antonio police officers used excessive force and wrongfully arrested them for possessing a legal THC product.
Charges filed on Jan. 30 against Fabian Ochoa, 27, and his fiancée Tiffany Rosales, 26, were dismissed about three hours after they were taken into custody in their own driveway, booking records show.
Footage of the couple’s arrest, captured by Rosales on her cell phone camera, shows Ochoa and then Rosales being handcuffed as they question an officer.
“I told him ‘We just went to the smoke shop, I got THCa.’ He didn’t want to test it, he didn’t want to call a supervisor. He didn’t want to do a lot of things,” Ochoa said.
Officers attempted to pull over Ochoa’s vehicle around 6:45 p.m. after seeing him fail to use a turn signal. Ochoa then pulled into his driveway and ignored an officer’s commands to stay in his vehicle, an SAPD incident report shows.
The officer later wrote that he “smelled the odors of marijuana emitting from inside the vehicle and also observed clouds of smoke coming from inside of the vehicle.”
The officer wrote that he recovered several baggies containing “a green leaf-like substance which was known to be marijuana” as well as a canister containing the substance.
The substance, according to the couple, was legally purchased THCa (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that looks and smells like marijuana.
THCa is legal as long as delta-9 THC concentration levels stay below .3%, according to state law.
Rosales provided KSAT with a picture of one of the baggies in question.
“It had the serial number and the batch and it even said THCa/CBD on there,” Ochoa said.
The couple said they were booked into the Central Magistrate’s Office and then released three hours later.
“We could have lost our job, could’ve lost our house, and so them coming and saying ‘oh, I’m sorry your charges are dropped, you’re released, sorry about that,' it’s not good enough,” Rosales said.
Days after the incident, Rosales and Ochoa filed a complaint with SAPD internal affairs claiming they were wrongfully arrested and that officers used excessive force while they were taking the couple into custody.
SAPD towed Ochoa’s vehicle to the Growdon Vehicle Impound facility, the incident report shows, even though it was parked in the driveway of his residence.
Ochoa said officers also lost Rosales' engagement ring.
“It was terrible, man,” Ochoa said. “He automatically put me in handcuffs already, had me against my car and all that.”
Rosales told KSAT earlier this week that SAPD recently returned the ring, after it was found in an SAPD patrol vehicle.
SAPD officials, citing an open administrative investigation of the case, said no one from the department was available for an interview on the incident.
Senate Bill 3 could undo hemp industry in Texas
The arrest and rejection of charges against Rosales and Ochoa come amid a heated battle over the future of hemp products in Texas.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is spearheading a group of state lawmakers looking to outlaw THC products.
Patrick announced his push to ban all forms of consumable THC in a post on X in early December.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Launches Major Legislative Initiative to Ban All THC:
— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) December 5, 2024
“Thousands of Stores Have Opened to Sell All Types of Dangerous Products with Unlimited THC. These Stores Even Target Your Children.”#txlege https://t.co/Irq1cUqkIG pic.twitter.com/jEAZj9Ncmo
In January, Patrick included the proposed ban, Senate Bill 3, near the top of his list of priority bills for the 89th legislative session.
The proposal was discussed during a hearing at the legislature earlier this week.
Patrick did not respond to emails from KSAT seeking an interview for this story.
Commercialized hemp was legalized in Texas in 2019 and the industry has seen an explosion in growth.
Patrick and other lawmakers, however, have argued that retail companies exploited the agriculture bill to sell “life-threatening” unregulated THC products to consumers of all ages.
Cynthia Cabrera, president of the Texas Hemp Business Council and the chief strategy officer for Hometown Hero, a Texas-based hemp products company, said the passage of Senate Bill 3 would “decimate” a hemp industry that provided an $8 billion annual impact in the state as recently as 2022.
“It would appear there is either a prohibitionist mindset, meaning somebody just doesn’t like it or they’re looking at the hemp industry as an impediment to an industry they actually do favor,” Cabrera said. “When has prohibition ever worked?”
Cabrera said the bill, if passed, would also imperil Texans who resort to buying THC products on the black market that are not regulated or tested.
“So, that would absolutely endanger Texans because it is the fact that we have a regulated program in the state that means people don’t have to go out of state,” Cabrera said.
In an X post in early December, Patrick wrote that the proposed ban would not impact the state’s compassionate use program, which allows some THC cannabis products to be prescribed to residents with certain medical conditions.
Cabrera pointed out that only three companies are licensed to dispense medical marijuana in Texas, and that one of them has over 70% of the market share.
Cabrera estimated that the passage of Senate Bill 3 would put 50,000 people out of work and force thousands of businesses to close.
“Listen, it’s just going to be a grind. We’re just going to have to do the work,” said Cabrera, who added that educational and awareness campaigns will be a big part of messaging from hemp advocates in the next few months.
Read more reporting on the KSAT Investigates page.