In a pilot's career, sustaining damage to a plane that results in a plane crash would seem like the worst thing that could happen. But one Sacramento-based pilot discovered that sometimes there is a worse situation. After an emergency landing that fortunately did not result in any injuries, the pilot was arrested along with the single passenger on suspicion of a federal drug crime.
The pilot said it was the second time that he had taken that particular passenger on a business flight from Sacramento to Houston, though the second flight only made it to Plains, TX where it crash landed. The pilot made sure that the passenger was not injured after the crash landing, and then he went for help and to notify the Federal Aviation Administration of the event. County sheriff's deputies located canvas bags containing 160 pounds of marijuana near the crash site.
The pilot said that he did not know what was in the bags and that an associate of the passenger loaded them onto the plane prior to takeoff. He witnessed the passenger moving the bags away from the plane after the crash when he went to retrieve help.
In a situation where an innocent person is arrested because of the implication that he is associated with another person who committed a crime, hiring a defense attorney who can work to prove that he is genuinely innocent can be the first step to clearing his name. Cooperating with law enforcement officials while making sure that all legal rights are offered and complied with will be the joint effort of the person arrested and his lawyer while they fight the arrest and charges. Even though being arrested for any crime can be a trying experience, a skilled lawyer can fight to get all charges dropped.