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Posted on 11/11/2025 3:38:21 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
A teen boy and his mother filed a federal lawsuit against Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and its police department, alleging false arrest and imprisonment after the boy was misidentified in a surveillance video and jailed for nearly a month on gun charges.
The complaint filed by Mekhi Johnson and his mother, Amber Garrity, on July 31 (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star) claims Williamsport Police Bureau Agent Benjamin Hitesman ignored evidence proving Johnson’s innocence and failed to inform prosecutors, willful omissions that a county judge later said “cast a dark cloud” over local police and all law enforcement.....
Based solely on that snippet of video, the lawsuit says Agent Hitesman wrongfully identified the masked person as then-17-year-old Mekhi Johnson, who lived with his mother nearby. Hitesman wrote and obtained a sealed search warrant for the Garrity residence based on that video, saying he recognized the teen and his dreadlocks.....
As a result, the gun found during the initial search of Johnson’s house could not be used as evidence in court, Gardner ruled, calling it “the fruit of the poisonous tree.”
The following day, the district attorney’s office withdrew all remaining charges against Johnson, who spent 29 days in detention, including his 18th birthday.
In his scathing opinion dated Sept. 24, 2024, Gardner wrote that it was “indisputable that Hiteman failed to disclose to either the Commonwealth or defense counsel that he obtained independently corroborated information that he misidentified [Johnson]” after he drafted and executed the search warrant and before both of his subsequent court hearings.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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Johnson, who spent 29 days in detention, including his 18th birthday.
♪ I turned twenty one in prison doing life without parole . ♪
♪ Thirty days in the hole ♪
Next time, let him draw that gun.
“Mekhi Johnson”. The name says a lot. It always does.
How long were those J6 folks held without access to their lawyers, or even valid charges, during the U.S. Gov. orchestrated melee at the Capitol?
Asking for 1500 curious prisoners.
The cop was an idiot though, JB was the shooter. JB being another thug known to authorities. The cop willingly withheld information. The pos cop needs to find a new gig, corrupt bastard.
That being said this other thug, Mekhi Johnson, we’ll see how he conducts himself in the future .
Good cops get bad raps because of scum like this one.
The criminal wont change. If anything he will wear this experience like a badge of honor and will feel untouchable. If he wins the lawsuit it will be 10x worse.
*Scolds*???????
The guy needs to be FIRED and charged with false imprisonment at the very least.
I found a potential subject I needed to question in city jail, which was more like a dungeon. His cell was a dank box the size of a walk in closet with a light bulb hanging from an extension wire. Anyway he greeted me saying he thought I was his attorney! Knowing he had been arrested for book making a month earlier I asked why he would think that at which point it registered to me he had not been before a judge, huge violation of criminal procedure in that state. I notified the turnkey and he said it happens sometime!! He went before a judge almost immediately and the judge dismissed the charge. The good news he admitted enough during our visit to conclude my case against him!! Still being in jail without a judicial appearance is wrong.
"Go ahead, skin it! Skin that smokewagon and see what happens..."
The search found a gun with obliterated serial numbers in pillowcase. Not usually present in a law-abiding household.
But, bad ID, bad search. Not passing on exculpatory evidence should get the cop fired, and his spending a month in jail would be a wholesome example for other cops.
The cop was “scolded”? WTF? That man should have lost his job the same day they found out what he did. And the judicial system wonders why they aren’t trusted.
The cop in question is just as much a scumbag as the yute.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Spending five years in jail for hiding exculpatory evidence would be a far stronger example to other LEO to stay on the straight and narrow.
Yes. No leniency for dirty cops. They're the dirtiest of the dirty.
Kinda like KamalaHarris hid exculpatory evidence for years to boost her conviction record. When finally revealed they were all released.
No problem, DNC still bypassed the primary to run her against DJTrump.
There are Police Officers out there every day who are sold gold Hero’s.
There are Police Officers out there who punch in and punch out, it’s just a job to them.
And there are Police Officers out there who could piss off a nun. They show up and start fights with their power trips. They hurt rather then help.
Sadly those officers the bad ones, who are few in number get most of the press.
This one is a bad one and needs jail time.
LOL.
*slap* *slap* *slap* “You gonna do something or just stand there and bleed?”
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