Wrong Man Jailed While Trying To Clear Up Google Results

Wrong Man Jailed While Trying To Clear Up Google Results

www2.nbc4i.com

Hilton, the son and grandson of Columbus police officers, went to police headquarters to clear up a mistake. Instead, he was arrested.

"Then I was hauled off to the jail and put in a cell with a bunch of other people," Hilton said.

It turned out that there is another William A. Hilton, who has a lengthy criminal record including a murder charge that was dismissed.

The first Hilton spent three days in jail waiting for the situation to be cleared up.

However, no one -- from the arresting officers to the jail deputies -- questioned the fact that Hilton is white and the suspect Hilto

(visit the link for the full news article)

So the man went to the police department to clear it up, and was arrested. That'll just teach people to avoid the police department if they have a mix up. Then to top it all off, the guy was white but the other suspect was black. Can this be called political correctness gone crazy? Where we are so color blind we overlook a simple fact that would prevent this guy from spending three days in jail? Hello lawsuit. I guess that guy can stop worrying about his social security.

www2.nbc4i.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I would also recommend avoiding the police station in such a situation, or in general. Just make a phone call. In situations like this, the cops are almost invariably more dangerous to laws and civil liberties than you are, and what do you get to make up for 3 days of wrongful imprisonment? Nothing, of course.

If that sounds radical, consider who's working at the station. People that are basically doing a desk job and are trained to think criminals will make up any excuse or lie. So basically they're not going to believe anything you tell them, if they're only convinced (for ANY reason) that you're a criminal. This guy only had the same name, and that was obviously enough for them, disregarding anything and everything the man had apparently shown up to tell them. This is what I mean when I say these people (cops) are dangerous in these situations. Wrongful imprisonment can cost you your job, great embarrassment, and who knows what else, but I bet there won't be so much as a firing over it, no money to the victim, etc. This is why people use the word "pig."

this supports my belief that when TSHTF, and TPTB declare martial law, we are going to find that all our local LEO are going to blindly follow orders...............

so many believe that the locals wouldn't do anything against the constitution.... but, when was the last time you witnessed a LEO, even refusing to give out a citation for seat belt infraction.............even though it is a uncostitutional law....................

they will blindly follow their orders, as 99% of them do....

reply to post by bsbray11


He could get a lawsuit over it. If nothing else he should get the social security benefits he lost because they thought he was a criminal. And even if he was a criminal, how could you take away someone's social security? That is just disgusting.

reply to post by filosophia


He could sue, but unless the ACLU or some other organization took up his case pro bono, he'd have to fork out all the lawyer expenses himself, have to have a damn good lawyer, and there's no guarantee he'd even win his case. If you ask me he shouldn't have to go through any of this trouble to begin with. I shouldn't have to make the argument that people in these situations should be reimbursed in several ways, by law. They should receive cash reimbursements for whatever money they lost from not being able to work, their employers should be forced to take them back if they were fired over it, and I'm sure there would be other damages. The officers involved should also be put on some kind of disciplinary probation as well. For organizations that were originally meant to "protect and serve" we have really gotten way off base here.

People make mistakes. Which is exactly why no person or group of people should have the power to rip you off the street or kick in your front door and drag you off to be locked in a cage.

How many lives ruined over a clerical error? How many killed?

The first time somebody was tossed in prison over clerical error the system should have halted and gone through an extensive review. The first time somebody was killed over clerical error the whole thing should have been eradicated.

It's only going to get worse as more people put more and more faith in technology. Technology is just as prone to error as the old pen and paper. What makes it more dangerous is people have gained this attitude that the machine is infallible and if it's on the screen it must be true.

Things are already much worse than they were only a short time ago and they're going to get even worse still.

reply to post by bsbray11


I agree, he shouldn't have to fight to get back what was his, he's the victim here, but they'll probably try to ignore him and call it a bureaucratic mistake, no one's responsible. I hate government hand outs, but this is different, since it was his money to begin with that they took away from him, plus they need to seriously reimburse him for the jail time. What a mockery of innocent until proven guilty. The entire system should be rethought if this kind of thing is going on in America.

Originally posted by filosophia
Then to top it all off, the guy was white but the other suspect was black.

Something like this happened to me. I was pulled over for a taillight that had burned out, and asked to show my drivers license.

When they ran a check they said my name came up as wanted for three felonies in Montana. I told them I'd never even been to Montana (This was in Alabama) but they arrested be and put me in jail.

6 hours later they let me go when they found out the guy they were looking for was a different race than me. But it was a scary experience, what if the other guy they were looking for had been the same race? I might still be rotting away in that jail.

I tell you, this is a scary experience I wouldn't wish on anybody.

Watch out for Christmas packages. Someone may not like you and send you a package... then when you take in the package this might happen...

The Berwyn Heights mayor's residence drug raid was a controversial action taken by the Prince George's County, Maryland Sheriff's Office and Police Department at the home of Berwyn Heights mayor Cheye Calvo on July 29, 2008. The raid was the culmination of an investigation that began in Arizona, where a package containing 32 pounds of marijuana was intercepted in a Fed Ex warehouse, addressed to the mayor's residence. In spite of intercepting the package in transit, the police allowed the package to be delivered, and once the package arrived at the house, a SWAT team raided and took the mayor and his mother-in-law into custody, killing his two dogs in the process.

The event gained national and international media attention. While the Calvos were cleared of wrongdoing, the police were accused by the Calvos and civil rights groups of lacking a proper search warrant, excessive force, and failure to conduct a proper background investigation of the home being raided. Despite the criticisms, no action has been taken against the officers or their respective police departments. In August 2010, Sheriff Jackson stated, “we'd do it again. Tonight.”

en.wikipedia.org...

A simple mistake?

Improper search warrant

During the interrogation, Calvo repeatedly requested to see the search warrant, but his lawyer stated no copy was provided until three days later. A County Police spokesman initially stated that a no-knock warrant had been issued for Calvo's home. However, after Calvo's lawyer challenged that statement and media published copies of the warrant, the commander of the county's narcotics enforcement division stated that no-knock warrants do not exist in the county.[15] However, no-knock warrants were clarified in a 2005 law, sponsored by Baltimore Delegate Curt Anderson,[16] that limits their use to suspects fleeing into a house, or if a suspect is considered armed or is attempting to destroy evidence.

Lack of a background investigation

During interrogation, Calvo stated that officers did not believe he was the Mayor and for a time refused his request that they contact the Berwyn Heights Police Department (which was unaware of the raid) to confirm his identity.[18] Police Chief High stated his department did not know the home was owned by the mayor and his wife.

In an editorial a week after the shooting, The Washington Post criticized the actions of police officers as "a Keystone Cops operation from start to finish", alluding to the lack of proper execution by the sheriff's department's SWAT team

"Despite the criticisms, no action has been taken against the officers or their respective police departments. In August 2010, Sheriff Jackson stated, “we'd do it again. Tonight.”

If this teaches us anything, it's that you should stay away from the police at all costs. They apparently aren't there to help you. Do your best to stay away from the police unless you want to have a very bad experience. It's a shame that this what is has come to but very rarely does anyone come into contact with the police anymore and walk away without a bad experience, even if they haven't done anything wrong.

It's important to note that obviously this has nothing to do with police officers in general, rather it has everything to do with the system.


--airspoon

Yep, never offer yourself to the pigs..

had a mate many years ago, who on payday went out and bought himself a stack of 25 writeable dvd's after work, and on the way home, went to the pub. as we did back in those days (Who am I kidding, still do he got a few more than a few under the belt and eventually left the pub a little wobbly.

Was stopped on the way home for a name check, which was not uncommon for the good old boys in blue to do around here, and they found his dvd's on him, decided to confiscate them and left him with a phone number to call should he 'decide' to ask for them back.

The next day, with the memory a little hazey, he calls the number and was instantly treated over the phone as a suspect in something. When he explained all he wanted was his dvd's back, the officer sternly told him to "just tell us where you are and we'll come arrest you." to which my mate hung up and decided the dvd's were not worth it.

Wether or not the pigs were just being arrogant smart arses or actually thieving his gear, we don't know... but we had been on the dark side of the force a few times before and know how those swines work.

While certainly not in the league of being locked up for a crime, it shows that the average public citizen has no rights if the pigs say you don't.

i wonder what would happen if the police knocked on your door and you refused to believe they were genuine and then wrestled them into submission before making a citezens arrest. you then lock them in your basement and then wait a couple of days before clarifying their true identity and letting them go.
i think you would be charged with kidnap and you would get a very large portion of your life behind bars but how do we the people allow this to happen. the police in question should atleast lose their jobs over this.

What? The police station didn't have a fingerprint machine? Good grief!

Originally posted by lewman
i wonder what would happen if the police knocked on your door and you refused to believe they were genuine and then wrestled them into submission before making a citezens arrest. you then lock them in your basement and then wait a couple of days before clarifying their true identity and letting them go.
i think you would be charged with kidnap and you would get a very large portion of your life behind bars but how do we the people allow this to happen. the police in question should atleast lose their jobs over this.

The more I think about it, the more Ron Paul's "Removal of government immunity" bill he is trying to introduce to stop the TSA, should be a constitutional amendment for everything, every time, every where. I think that is my new credo: the government can not do anything the citizens can not do. So if, as you pointed out, we would be branded kidnappers if we arrested an officer due to mistaken identity, then the government should also be branded a kidnapper and face similar charges. If you can't bust down someone's door and shove a machine gun in their face, the government should not be able to do that either. I'll tolerate the random mad man if we as a nation are actually allowed to defend ourselves. However I can not tolerate ignorance of this kind coming from our own establishment.

Wow, I don't even know what I can say to this, except for... I am not surprised....

Would not be the first time and wont be the last.

I smell a lawsuit in the works.

I guess this happens a lot. I worked with a guy at a temp agency that it happened to. The guy was pulled over and arrested for burglary. Turns out, the guy they wanted had the same name, only the middle name was different. Also, the guy they wanted was black. The guy I worked with was white.

reply to post by filosophia



I know a guy that spent over a year in jail for not not paying child support for a child that the court had 2 DNA tests that showed that he WASN'T the father.

reply to post by filosophia
I once went to a police station to report the theft of a surf-ski worth approx $500. They made me wait 45 minutes while they were secretly doing a background check on me, then tell me I'm free to go. When I ask them about what about taking a report about the stolen item they only respond by saying oh you came to report a crime.

Never trust a cop, they are only there to see what they can get on you & get their little "brownie points" up.