Eugene Police officer Bryan Inman searched my place without a warrant in 2007 when a snitch tipped him off that there were some illegal fireworks inside. He came to the door, asked to search, I said no, and he searched anyway without a warrant. Then he arrested me for manufacturing a destructive device and reckless endangerment. He claimed that an odor of marijuana gave him the right to enter without a warrant, but my lawyer and the prosecutor seemed to agree that there really is no way to know for sure what you smell, so that made the homemade fireworks he seized inadmissible. Unfortunately, the prosecutor wouldn't dismiss the case and I got 80 hours of community service for reckless endangerment.
Was I guilty of reckless endangerment? No, I was not because taking the white powder out of Whistling Pete's, putting it in plastic bottles, and blowing them up does not put anyone at risk of serious injury. He says that the sidewalk was highly trafficked and I could have hurt someone. That sidewalk might be highly trafficked during the school year, but not on the weekend during the summer. I've had those "pop bottle bombs" go off right next to me and I've been just fine. The only argument might be that if a piece of plastic hit someone in the eye at a high enough speed they might get hurt. By that logic anyone that sets off a bottle rocket or a roman candle is recklessly endangering people. After all either of those are more likely to put someone's eye out than what I was doing.
I got really lucky that he did not get a warrant on the manufacturing charge because I was guilty of that. Apparently the legal precedent for prosecutions under that statute in Oregon is a case of an 8th grader that duct taped a Whistling Pete and brought it to school. So much for having a fun 4th of July. To this day I keep having this brought up in court as if I were some kind of bomb maker. They were not destructive devices, they were home made fireworks.