This text initially appeared on WND.com
Visitor by submit by Bob Unruh
Police refused to simply accept her personal identification though description didn’t match up.
A lady is suing Broward County, Florida, after legislation enforcement officers there arrested her for one thing another person did, refusing to simply accept her personal identification and ignoring the truth that the outline of the needed lady didn’t match.
The Institute for Justice studies the grievance towards the county is on behalf of Jennifer Heath Field.
She expenses authorities violated her constitutional proper to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, in addition to due course of.
The IJ defined the background:
In December 2022, Jennifer went on a cruise with members of the family to have a good time the information that her youthful brother, Mark, had beat most cancers for the second time. After a enjoyable week aboard the Concord of the Seas, the cruise ship returned to Port Everglades on the morning of Christmas Eve, giving Jennifer sufficient time to spend Christmas along with her three grownup kids. However when Jennifer scanned her ID to get off the ship, police surrounded her and instructed her there was a warrant for her arrest for baby endangerment out of Harris County, Texas.
The IJ reported the warrant did search a lady named Jennifer, but it surely wasn’t this Jennifer. And he or she documented that her personal kids already all have been adults.
“It was a extremely scary and complicated expertise, as a result of I’ve by no means had run-ins with legislation enforcement and I’ve no felony report,” she defined. “I couldn’t consider that I might be stopped, arrested, and jailed, simply because my title was just like somebody they have been on the lookout for.”
She knew the officers have been unsuitable, so she cooperated calmly and supplied police along with her license and date of start, in addition to details about her kids.
It didn’t matter to officers.
“Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Peraza handcuffed her on the ship and took her to a police automotive for added questioning. Within the automotive, Jennifer continued to put out proof that Peraza had the unsuitable individual, however he insisted every thing on the warrant matched Jennifer’s identification. It didn’t,” the IJ mentioned.
For instance, the suspect’s title was Jennifer Delcarmen Heath, not Jennifer Heath Field, the suspect was 23 years youthful than Jennifer, making her even youthful than one in every of Jennifer’s kids, the suspect was 5 inches shorter than Jennifer, the suspect had totally different coloration eyes, hair, and pores and skin tone and the suspect had a special dwelling handle, driver’s license quantity, social safety quantity, and Harris County System Individual Quantity.
Then, in what would appear to be vital, the legislation enforcement search was for a woma with “5 younger kids.”
“Peraza had a lot proof that he had the unsuitable Jennifer, and he both ignored that proof or intentionally misled different Broward County officers,” mentioned IJ Lawyer Jared McClain. “We should be capable to maintain authorities officers accountable once they overlook obtrusive proof and arrest the unsuitable individual.”
When Peraza arrived on the reserving station with the unsuitable lady, the officer there confirmed she had no excellent warrants, however Peraza didn’t consider him.
“Jennifer was then strip searched and booked. Over the subsequent three days, she confronted horrible situations. A male inmate routinely tried to enter Jennifer’s cell whereas she was alone, and officers blasted demise steel over the audio system and freezing air into the cell, making it so chilly that she needed to sleep back-to-back with one other inmate simply to maintain heat,” the IJ mentioned.
Her husband, a police officer, instructed the county to match her fingerprints, however officers refused.
Lastly, members of the family discovered {that a} Harris County worker had damagingly connected Jennifer’s driver’s license picture to the warrant, as an alternative of the suspect’s picture.
IJ litigation lawyer Bobbi Taylor mentioned, “This lawsuit is about ensuring what occurred to Jennifer doesn’t occur to anybody else. This must cease.”
The “mistake” price her three days in jail, the vacations along with her kids, and a meet-up with a son who was being deployed with the Marines.