Sergeant Sunshine

Scott French, The Complete Guide to the Street Drug Game (1976):

One of the heroes of the Hashbury days was Sergeant Sunshine, a San Francisco cop who became upset at a system where you could easily buy a gun but get arrested for smoking a harmless vegetable. On April 14, 1968, Sgt. Richard Bergess demonstrated his feelings by lighting up a joint on the courthouse steps. Hippies threw a carpet of flowers before the cop, who was promptly arrested by agents in the crowd. Needless to say, this was Sgt. Bergess' last day with the San Francisco police.

He served six months in jail, and subsequently became a plumber.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Sun May 22, 2022
Category: Drugs | Smoking and Tobacco | Police and Other Law Enforcement | 1960s

Comments

Good on him. If only there were more like him right now. I can't see him tasering parents.

Posted by Richard Bos on 05/28/22 at 02:57 PM

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