Atlanta woman arrested by mistake, jailed 53 days

Atlanta woman arrested by mistake, jailed 53 days

www.ajc.com

The woman’s nightmare began Aug. 21, when she called police to report her truck had been taken from in front of her Hawkins Street home. She ended up being arrested for an aggravated assault allegedly committed by another woman named Teresa.

“Her birth date didn't match. Her address didn't match. Her description didn't match. Other than the name Teresa, nothing matched,” said Culpepper’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This innocent woman, in fact this victim (I refer to her as that because she was the one that was reporting a crime committed against her) ended up being arrested for having nothing more in common with the individual that the police had a warrant for but a first name.

Cause we all know there's only like 3 Teresa's in the US right?

Did they even bother checking anything? This woman spent 53 days in jail, because police didn't do their job. I sincerely hope they get fired, and that she is compensated well for this mistake.



www.ajc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I read this article and it absolutely floored me. The only link they had to her and the wanted suspect was the same first name. Nothing else matched, not even physical description. Just a case of having the same first name.

But here is where it even got odder than that. No one cared. No one checked into anything or even attempted to release. The judge apparently might have sentenced her with no proof of anything, except that behind the scenes or counsel or those working on her behalf did track down the real suspect and convinced her to show up in court and say she was innocent.

Now how often do you think that is going to happen? Usually the odds on that would be like a snowball suriving hell!

So, they would have sentenced her without the real suspect showing up, just because she has the same first name.

And no one bats an eye.???

Come on, something really wrong here.

If I were here I would find the scummiest lawyer on the planet to take that case and sue the pants off the city.
Stupidity should be painful.

How is this even possible? An arrest based solely on a matching first name?

I'm going to change my name to Aluiciousbluethirtysevenandahalfelephant to make sure no dumb-ass cop can even remotely match my name up with another.

ETA: I hope one of ATS's resident troopers can chime in on how the hell this can happen.

Pretty typical. It was probably circular reasoning. "I arrested you because I think you are this person. You aren't? That person? Wellll.... you must have done something bad or you wouldn't be in jail would you?"

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


i laughed out loud

reply to post by InSanE1


Well let's face it, it is not hard to get into the force nowadays is it? sign of things too come i am afraid. What happened to integrity and suchlike? not only do we have thugs in uniform now, they are also brainless to boot. My son spent 3 years at college to train to become a policeman(sorry police officer now isnt it), i am glad he has changed his mind.

I also hope they get fired to and there is a big payout, clearly this should not have even got to the first stage of questioning. It is about time these law breakers were arrested themselves, let them spend sometime , say 53 days inside without being listened too and see how they feel.

reply to post by InSanE1


So I just finished reading the article, and I just watched the news story above the article. In the video one of the reporters says "An investigation is underway to see if any procedures or protocols were not followed".

After he says this I started thinking..."Well obviously the protocols and procedures were not followed because an innocent women sat in jail for more than 50 days with no evidence to implicate her other than her first name".

I have heard about the AtlantaPD being extremely corrupt and extremely violent, and this just proves to me we live in a system of guilty until proven innocent.

My question is this... they aren't investigating a obvious miscarriage of justice, or a mistake of imprisoning someone without evidence, they're "investigating to see if any procedures or protocols were not followed." Basically that just says to me "We're currently searching like hell for some sort of loophole we can latch onto that will make what happened legal."

So what happens if their investigation decides that no procedures or protocols were obviously violated? "Sorry you ended up in jail, but you know how it is..."

Fairly typical. Once i was standing in my front yard and the police searched because they thought i was trying to break into my moms car. MY moms car. Really? Are you losers that stupid?

That poor woman! First, her truck is stolen then her 2 months of her life are taken from her. Talk about a bad luck streak. SheeeeESH!
Let's hope the Obama "Death list" has more than first names on it.

Flagged for egregious stupidity.

The Judge and cops should be put in jail for 10 years over this.


Just to make an example out of them.


Plus she should get very generously compensated. $1 million from that quack town.

I'm surprised nobody has brought up the possibility that things might have gone differently if she was white, blond and middle class, - just saying !

So could she sue for abduction and wrongfull imprisionment. I wouldn't settle for anything less than 3 million.

reply to post by Unity_99


I don't know how things work in the US (or even here in Portugal), but I think that logical way would be for the courts to accept that the police investigation showed that someone was probably guilty of a crime, and they first decide if the person remains in jail awaiting trial or if await the trial at home, and, if awaiting the trial in jail, if they can be released on a bond or not. The tribunal doesn't have the resources (or the mandate) to investigate things, they just decide what to do it the information they are given.

I think that's why the police are investigating to see if "any policies or procedures were violated", because (I suppose) it's the police responsibility to show a real suspect to the court.

In this article they say that her family didn't had the $12,000 to pay the bond, and that's why she had to wait in jail.

Luckily for her, at least half of the system still works...

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
That poor woman! First, her truck is stolen then her 2 months of her life are taken from her. Talk about a bad luck streak. SheeeeESH!
Let's hope the Obama "Death list" has more than first names on it.

Flagged for egregious stupidity.

edit on 19-10-2011 by Asktheanimals because: (no reason given)

I hear ya on that!!! I mean after all my first name is to girls as Smith is to surnames!!!!

reply to post by TsukiLunar


Haha don't worry we get it in the UK aswell,A friend of mine his gf and myself were sitting 25yards up the road from a fight amongst 4-5 scumballs,and we were asked to get out of the car and had our names taken!

Something about this story doesn't add up. Was this arrest a result of a warrant that had been issued? I'm assuming it was, but regardless, when someone is arrested, they have to be taken before a judge within a day or two to be arraigned. Thereafter, there are more court dates set....usually within a couple of weeks...sometimes even days of the first court appearance. If this was not the right woman, then I would think the judge would have taken issue with that right off the bat. If, indeed, the only thing that matched was her first name, then the judge would have required some kind of proof that she was the right person, or he would have ordered her released.

People cannot just be arrested by the police and then put in jail for 50+ days without going before a judge.

There is more to this story than is being told.

shows what happens when products of a poor education system go to work for a corrupt justice system...
Truly amazing.. So much for land of the free when people are imprisoned solely because they have the same name as a suspect in another case..