Posted on 04/01/2015 4:58:00 PM PDT by Gamecock
Arrested and handcuffed as her 12-year-old daughter watched from a nearby window, April Christina Carter spent two days held without bond in a Greenville County Detention Center cell with a double-murder suspect.
Her offense: a $50 speeding fine that she said she had paid more than a decade ago but which remained on the books in Greenville County, triggering a bench warrant for her arrest.
Two days after she was taken into custody in the driveway of her mother’s house, Carter was released from the jail without explanation.
Now, Carter is suing Greenville County, Sheriff Steve Loftis and Deputy John Spencer Williams Jr. alleging they violated her constitutional rights and for false imprisonment, negligence and assault.
Her complaint, filed in Common Pleas Court in October, also lists as defendants two unknown county employees identifed as John Doe and Jane Doe.
In a court filing, the defendants denied wrongdoing and asked that the complaint be dismissed. The Sheriff’s Office referred questions to Christopher Antley, a Greenville attorney for the defendants. He couldn’t be reached.
“One of the biggest fears we have in our society is doing what you are supposed to do, being a law-abiding citizen, and being pulled over and arrested and incarcerated for 2½ days for no reason other than a government official didn’t do their job properly,” said Peter Protopapas, one of Carter’s attorneys.
According to Carter’s complaint and her attorneys:
In October 2001, when she was 18, Carter was cited for driving too fast for conditions or speeding less than 10 mph over the speed limit.
The citation called for her to appear in court for trial two months later. On the scheduled day of her trial, Carter appeared in court and paid a $50 fine. She received a receipt from West Greenville Summary Court and was told that by paying her fine, the issue was resolved and she was free to go.
She never received notice that her ticket hadn’t been paid, nor was her driver’s license revoked or suspended for failure to pay a traffic citation.
More 11 years later, when Carter pulled into her mother’s driveway that day in March 2013 and got out of her vehicle, two uniformed sheriff’s deputies parked behind her.
One of the deputies told Carter to put her belongings on the ground and her hands on the roof of the car. Her mother, aunt and daughter were in the house and watching.
One deputy told Carter she was being pulled over because a car fitting her vehicle’s description had been reported stolen.
A background check on her license turned up an outstanding Greenville County bench warrant from her 2001 citation.
Carter was arrested for failure to appear for the citation, even though she told deputies “on numerous occasions” she had paid the ticket on time.
She alleged in her complaint she was handcuffed, searched, placed in the patrol car and driven away while her family watched.
Carter was taken to the Greenville County Detention Center, where she was booked, searched again, fingerprinted and photographed, her complaint said. Then, she alleged, she was placed in a cell with a double-murder suspect and held without a bond hearing.
No criminal charges were filed and she remained in jail for two days before being released “with no further explanation,” Carter said.
In her suit, Carter contends the bench warrant was “facially deficient and obviously invalid” because it only stated she had been convicted of a speeding violation in October 2001 but failed to specify facts constituting a criminal offense such as failure to appear or failure to pay the fine.
She alleged she has suffered “stigmatism of reputation and character,” mental and emotional distress, depression and anxiety as a result of her arrest.
In their answer to the complaint, the defendants said they acted reasonably and in good faith and didn’t violate any of Carter’s “clearly established” rights. In addition, they said they were employees of a governmental entity and immune from the suit under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act.
A trial date hasn’t been set. Carter is asking for a jury trial and for actual and incidental damages. She also is seeking punitive damages.
Calm down citizen. That is just the price of keeping the streets of Greenville safe from real crime!</sarc>
SC ping worthy?
Sorry, I guess they missed the "secure in person and papers" right.
Shouldn’t they be suing the court or county officials who actually made the mistake?
They need our Sheriff over there but cannot have him.
my thoughts too.
So they admit that they were acting under color of law? Sue them in Federal Court. That's where the suit should have been brought, anyway.
"Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress..."
42 U.S. Code § 1983
If the facts are as stated above are true, I hope she gets millions.
In an ideal world, or a common sense one, the settlement would be paid from the cities public employees pension fund.
At least they did not shoot her.
Almost impossible to sue the judge who issued the warrant.
Exactly. Cause right now the citizens will pick up the tab.
Okay, that should be worth about $250,000 ... I hope she gets it!! AND ... FIRE the people involved in all phases of her arrests and detainment. Maybe that will make officials and employees smarter and act more intelligently!
They ought to be sued, this woman should win.
And its still not the fault of the arresting officers.
No, the county people didn’t physically arrest her and jail her two days.
let the sheriff sue them.
With that kind of stupidity its no wonder conservatives can’t win.
At least no dogs were shot.
It also sounds like the original ticket was a bit much too. Speeding less than 10mph over the limit. Just about everyone does that.
South Carolina Ping
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