9th Circuit OKs civil rights suit by man mistakenly jailed on warrant for another man
A federal appeals court has given a green light to a civil rights suit by a man who spent several days in a Los Angeles jail after being mistakenly booked under a warrant for another man.
Mario Garcia shared the same first name, last name and birth date with the correct defendant. However, their middle names are different and the plaintiff is 9 inches taller than the man for whom the warrant was issued, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted in its Wednesday opinion (PDF), finding that Garcia adequately pleaded a violation of his 14th Amendment rights.
The defendant Los Angeles County officials had sought the suit’s dismissal, arguing that they were protected by immunity granted to police officials. But the 9th Circuit said the discrepancies between the two men required those who booked Garcia to make further inquiry, particularly after he protested that they had the wrong man.
“[T]he 9-inch difference in height, even if standing alone, is so inexplicable except by misidentification that the booking officers clearly had a duty to make readily available inquiries,” the appellate panel writes. “And those further inquiries would have shown more material differences, such as different arrest record, middle initial, and home address.”
The court drew a distinction between a mistaken arrest in the field and Garcia’s case, because he was already being held in a Riverside County driving-under-the-influence case when officials incorrectly identified him as the wanted man in the Los Angeles case. This would have made it easier, the opinion says, to perform additional checks.
“Whether the officers who subjected plaintiff to imprisonment on the warrant acted reasonably is a question that must be determined in this litigation assessing the boundaries of due process,” the opinion concludes. “There is at this time no applicable state or federal law immunity.”
Such cases of mistaken identity occur regularly, notes the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.). An earlier Los Angeles Times (sub. req.) story published in 2011 details nearly 1,500 other incidents that occurred over a five-year period.
The Times says individuals arrested because they were mistaken for someone else generally have little legal recourse due to immunity laws, which protect law enforcement agencies so long as a warrant is valid and officers reasonably believed they had the right person.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Jailed based on mistaken identity, some who did nothing wrong are held days, weeks or months”
ABAJournal.com: “Mistakenly arrested again, at court hearing in earlier mistaken-arrest case, woman plans to sue”
Florida Times-Union: “Clay County Sheriff’s Office settles wrongful arrest lawsuit by Louisiana mom for $67,000”
