MARIJUANA MIX-UP

Unfortunately, it's not what it looks like. A super at a Brooklyn high-rise sure was fooled, though! Building superintendent Christian Delarosa, 34, found these mysterious little potted plants on the rooftop of the building when he went up there to check the roof for leaks and immediately called the police after his little discovery. The police, who responded to a report of a marijuana farm on the Brooklyn rooftop, arrived only to discover 15 Solo cups with leafy green saplings sprouting out of them, which could look like marijuana to someone who doesn't know what marijuana looks like, but they were simply tomato plants. Doh!

According to police records, a lieutenant and two officers went to the Lefferts Avenue building in Prospect Lefferts Gardens at 9:30 am after Delarosa found more than 15 of these Solo cups. Delarosa said, “I don't know much about plants. I'm not good with that. When I saw them, the first thing I thought was 'Oh my God!' Right there, I looked it up on my phone and they looked close to marijuana plants, but I thought I should call someone who knew about plants, so I called the police." Really? Am I the only one who thinks this Delarosa guy is a moron? First of all, if someone leaves these plants on the rooftop, it's public domain. I would've put them in a box and privately asked someone who knew about plants to take a look at them. If they were pot plants, I would've taken the buds off and sold them to make some extra cash. If I found out they were tomato plants, which would've saved me a world of embarrassment with the police and my neighbors. Like I said--"Moron!"

According to Delarosa, when the police arrived, they were just as puzzled and couldn't tell right away either. Are you kidding me? Even experts can't understand how the cops could have confused the two. Mikeal Roose, chairman of Botany and Plant Sciences at the University of California, Riverside, said, "They're not even the same species; they're not the same genus. I don't even think they're part of the same family. It's very hard for me to see that somebody could confuse the two. If you put the leaves side by side, you wouldn't be able to mistake them." What I don't understand is that these are New York City cops! How can they not know what a marijuana plant looks like? Then again, it's the D.E.A. who probably handles most of those cases anyway. 

The officers eventually caught on to the difference and closed the investigation, leaving the tomatoes where they stood. The unidentified owner of the tomato stash won't have to deal with the police since they really did nothing wrong, but they will have to deal with the super who cut off any future access to the rooftop. That's dumb! This unidentified person was clearly trying to grow their own tomatoes. Where else can they do it other than the rooftop? It's not like they have a yard to grow things. It's not their fault that you, Mr. Delarosa, are agriculturally illiterate! I don't understand why this tomato grower has to be punished because of your embarrassing mistake. What a shame!