Posted on 09/07/2010 1:28:06 AM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
Kimberly Shields, a 23-year-old manicurist from Winter Park, was in tears. She was locked up in the Seminole County Jail, strip searched, deloused, and she had no business being there.
A small-time thief with a cocaine addiction had stolen her identity, stolen a car, then confused authorities in Charlotte County, who issued an arrest warrant that landed Shields in jail in Sanford in 2002.
She kept telling jailers they had the wrong person. They checked, found a photo of the real thief, acknowledged that she was the wrong person but still held her for several more hours.
How much longer is in dispute. It was at least an additional 24 hours, if you believe Shields, Seminole Sheriff's Office fax records and phone records from Charlotte County.
It was four to seven hours, if you believe the Sheriff's Office employee who discovered the error.
Shields is suing the Seminole Sheriff's Office, alleging false imprisonment and negligence. There's a pretrial conference today. The case is tentatively set for trial Sept. 27.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
I’d be one very unhappy camper...
Another one... wow.
How many townsfolk are gonna let themselves be taxed and sued into bankruptcy before they put some serious limits on these out of control officers and departments?
I feel sorry for her but this sometimes happens when identities are stolen. The cops played it straight and I can’t find fault with that.
Look how many criminals get out of police stations because someone errs. At least she was released.
Why would it be even one minute after they discovered the error? Hopefully she will win her lawsuit.
This happened over 8 years ago. Did she suffer repressed memory syndrome or something?
Maybe it’s delayed justice syndrome.
Maybe it’s she needs the money and suddenly realized how traumatized she was.
Probably it took forever to get through the court system syndrome.
Almost as good as winning the lottery.
Rather she get some tax dollars then some illegal CRINIMAL alien..
I hate lawyers....
Logically, I’d think Shields should be suing both offices, in Federal court. That way weaseling like this can’t happen.
As a central Floridian I can tell you that the Seminole County police are known in the area for their brutality ,, they love to shoot and they love to push the limits in the usual ways , handcuff tightness , slamming heads into car doorframes and all the usual cop games.
No one around with the authority to release her.
Had to find the flunkie in charge, then had to find a judge, then had to have the proper paperwork...
etc.
Bureacracy...
Maybe it’s she needs the money and suddenly realized how traumatized she was.
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Laugh if you want , I have a friend that was mistakenly identified and arrested similarly in the 1980’s , when asked on an employment app he has to answer “YES” to “Have you ever been arrested for a felony” ,, it has cost him many job opportunities, literally tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Does the local jailer have the authority to release a prisoner, or does the authorization have to come from higher up? No.
When the police realized the (honest) mistake they found a judge - not easy to do in some locales after hours - and she was released.
I bet they wouldn’t have a problem getting a judge at midnight if someone walked in with a huge drug tip.
Maybe she needs money, after all - 9.6% of Americans are unemployed.
The fact is this is a a crazy world with ID thefts and computer printouts of wanted criminals and a police force of Humans who like you can make mistakes. No cop in the world wants to pick up the wrong person....but it happens in a country our size.
Im suprised it took so long to verify her ID and she deserves an apology and compensation, but to call out all PD departments over a few mistakes out of millions of arrests is ludicrous.
But of course that wont make sense around here....
Well they got her in there easily enough without a Judge now didn’t they? And apparently they had a picture of the perp as well.
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