After deputies confiscated a product from The Float Dog store near Southeastern Louisiana University without a warrant on March 16, store owner Stephen L. Spell II filed a civil lawsuit against Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edwards, claiming that his constitutional rights had been violated.

“I was denied my rights to due process,” said Spell. “It doesn’t matter what color you are, where you are or what you do. For the police to run into my store without a warrant was very much unconstitutional. My attorneys agree that it was unconstitutional.”

The product seized is a botanical sachet called “Skyscraper the Next Level.”

“We’ve asked for a declaration that the sheriff’s actions have violated Mr. Spell’s rights, an injunction to prevent incidents like this in the future and compensation for the seized product, which was never returned,” said Spell’s attorney Vincent J. Booth of Booth and Booth APLC law firm.

According to the filed complaint, the deputies that entered Float Dog and seized the packets containing the Skyscraper product on March 16 were following Edwards’ “explicit orders.”

“They said it was morally wrong for me to sell it, and they said that somebody had illegally consumed it and overdosed on it on Friday the fifteenth, and they were taking all of it off the shelves,” said Spell.  

In a press release issued by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO), Edwards made a statement responding to Spell’s YouTube video addressing the issue of the raid and his reasons for ordering the uptake of the Skyscraper product.

“There is some chemical agent in these products which is causing episodes of psychotic behavior when young people use them,” said Edwards. “Until we find out what that chemical agent is, we won’t know whether or not this product is illegal. But right now, we already know it’s dangerous, and my obligation to protect the public safety requires me to keep it off the streets. That’s what I intend to do.”

Spell said the Skyscraper product is his most popular product. Despite Edward’s opinion of the product, Spell plans to continue selling it.

 “I have the product on the shelf now,” said Spell.

Edwards was unavailable to comment on the lawsuit, but his statements in the TPSO press release addressed why he believes the seizure to be acceptable.

 “What we did was a bit unorthodox, but I was trying to save lives and do the right thing by taking the product off the shelves,” said Edwards.   

According to the TPSO press release, the Sheriff’s Office has recently amplified their enforcement of Louisiana’s synthetic drug laws.

The seizure of Spell’s botanical sachet, however, violated parts of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

“I think it’s a solid case,” said Booth. “I mean, the product is completely legal.”

There is no official court date yet, but Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown has been named the presiding judge over the case.