If some relatives in the Northeast were dreaming of a high Christmas, we've got bad news. Santa and Mrs. Claus, or rather elderly couple Patrick and Barbara Jiron, were stopped by sheriff's deputies in Nebraska, as York News-Times reports. Heading to Boston and Vermont from Northern California in their Toyota Tacoma pickup truck, the elderly couple crossed the center line, deputies say, and failed to signal. When stopped, the deputies smelled fresh marijuana. The driver consented to a search, which yielded 60 pounds of marijuana and some containers of THC concentrate in the back of the pickup. The couple said the weed was meant as "Christmas presents."
That much pot would be worth about $300,000, according to the York County Sheriff Department. The couple faces felony charges, in part because they didn't have the required drug tax stamp from the state's Department of Revenue. Marijuana is illegal in Nebraska, though. Laws are weird like that. The 80-year-old husband has been jailed, but is out on bail, while the 70-year-old wife was not jailed, due to medical issues.
We should note that this bust could have been averted had the couple's truck had lane-keep assist. The current Tacoma offers lane departure alert as standard as part of its Toyota Safety Sense P technology suite. It could have warned the driver they were crossing the centerline, while lane-keeping assist could have stopped it automatically. We know this sort of technology saves lives, but in this case, it could have saved Christmas, too. (We don't condone breaking the law, of course. If you're going to give someone a green Christmas, do it legally.)
Hey, at least it wasn't a Ford Fusion this time.
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That much pot would be worth about $300,000, according to the York County Sheriff Department. The couple faces felony charges, in part because they didn't have the required drug tax stamp from the state's Department of Revenue. Marijuana is illegal in Nebraska, though. Laws are weird like that. The 80-year-old husband has been jailed, but is out on bail, while the 70-year-old wife was not jailed, due to medical issues.
We should note that this bust could have been averted had the couple's truck had lane-keep assist. The current Tacoma offers lane departure alert as standard as part of its Toyota Safety Sense P technology suite. It could have warned the driver they were crossing the centerline, while lane-keeping assist could have stopped it automatically. We know this sort of technology saves lives, but in this case, it could have saved Christmas, too. (We don't condone breaking the law, of course. If you're going to give someone a green Christmas, do it legally.)
Hey, at least it wasn't a Ford Fusion this time.
Related Video:
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