A crash involving a Michigan garbage truck has led to the discovery of an unlicensed marijuana grow operation.
Surveillance video captured the moment the crash into a Sterling Heights, Michigan building happened, reports NBC.
Early Wednesday morning the driver of this garbage truck encountered a car that ran a red light.
The garbage truck swerved, but still hit the vehicle. The truck then ran over the median and struck what was thought to be an unoccupied building. The out-of-control garbage truck knocked a big hole in one wall of the building.
But police responding to the accident quickly noticed that this building was anything but empty.
In fact, what cops found were rows of Cannabis plants and grow lights inside the building. Police counted about 260 plants inside the building, reports WDIV.
Police are investigating who is behind the unlicensed grow operation. Marijuana is legal for adult use in Michigan. But large-scale cultivation requires a state-issued commercial growing license.
Cultivating Cannabis in commercial buildings in Sterling Heights also violates a city ordinance, because the city didn’t opt in to allow it.
“Growing marijuana inside a commercial building is not legal in the city of Sterling Heights,” said Sean Allen, the Sterling Heights fire marshal, reports Fox 2 Detroit. “You need special permits to do that and Sterling Heights does not offer that option,” Allen told local news outlet WJBK.
Firefighters inspected the scene to evaluate the risks posed by the building after it was hit, according to WDIV. According to WDIV, authorities said there were roughly 260 plants in the grow operation.
There were no injuries in the crash.
