Homeowner says cops confused fruit plants for pot

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - A Georgia homeowner is upset after investigators mistook his garden full of okra for marijuana plants, CBS Atlanta reports.

Dwayne Perry explained that a helicopter woke him up Wednesday along with the Bartow County deputies who had shown up at the door of his Atlanta-area home.

"I was scared actually, at first, because I didn't know what was happening," Perry told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "They were strapped to the gills," he said of state police.

The helicopter was from the Governor's Task Force for drug suppression and they were searching for domestic cannabis plants and spotted the tree and plants on Perry's property.

"Instead, it's okra and maybe a bush on the end of the house," he explained.

Perry added that his plants had five leaves, not seven like marijuana plants. He doesn't think such a mistake should happen.

"Here I am, at home and retired and you know I do the right thing," Perry said. "Then they come to my house strapped with weapons for no reason. It ain't right."

Investigators reportedly apologized to Perry on the scene.

When a reporter from WSB-TV contacted the Georgia State Patrol for an explanation, they sent an evidence photo in response.

"We've not been able to identify it as of yet. But it did have quite a number of characteristics that were similar to a cannabis plant," Georgia State Patrol Capt. Kermit Stokes told WSB-TV.

Stokes also apologized again about the incident.

"If we disturbed them in any manner, that's not our intent. Our intent is to go out and do our job and do it to the best of our ability," Stokes said.

But Perry's worried his reputation has been damaged. And he's not sure an apology is enough.

"The more I thought about it, what could have happened? Anything could have happened," he said.