Steve, I was a Sgt. for a So. Ca. Sheriff's Dept. When I was a Patrol Deputy, I stooped a guy for some violation, (I do not remember). Ran his name, it came back with a red flag felony out of Texas for the murder of 2 Federal agents. The guy's name, DOB and city it occurred in all matched. He claimed it was not him, but he admitted to living in that city at that time. On the way to jail, this guy was so convicting, I drove to HQ, had him fingerprinted and had Texas send us his prints. Our fingerprints expert checked the prints, and surprise it was not him. We notified Texas and had him taken out of the wanted system. I drove him home. He had a large family where he was the only bread winner. Being extradited would have cause him great loss. It only took 30 minutes to make sure I was not screwing up a guy's life and hurting his family.
Thank you for keeping justice in mind, doing the right thing as a PROFESSIONAL law enforcement officer, and making sure a "wrong" did not happen. We need more LEO's like you!
It will always be on his record and next time he gets arrested he will not be able too get a bondsman to post bail because he has had a failure too appear it’s a little trick they use to deny bail.
Anyone who thinks 17 days in jail for a crime you didn't commit isn't a big deal, is effing stupid! Clearly you have never seen what goes on behind bars. And ALWAYS lawyer up when dealing with police no matter what!!!
Yep. His mistake was providing ID to a gangster in the first place. He was probably one of those, "If you've got nothing to hide, just cooperate with the police," idiots. Still doesn't deserve to be kidnapped and tortured.
That 17 days is 2 week lost pay.abd since everyone is working paycheck to paycheck that represents, you missing a credit card payment and your 5% tate become the default rate 30%, that is a missed mortgage payed so you lose your 300k house goes into foreclosure, that is a car payment Sotheby's repossess your car, that is no money for food for your kids. If the purpose of the criminal justice system is punishment for the guilty followed by rehabilitation. The innocent are punished and a person who never needed rehabilitation I'm the first place has their whole life screwed up from here on. And missing 17 days from work could cost you you job, or if you are a small business owners could cost you your business putting a dozen employees out of work as well.
Agree! Give him a million for each one of those days plus times 2 for the extra hardship he went through just trying to get home. Because of the airline he understandably will never feel whole or safe again!
But so does the system that failed to afford him representation AT ALL STAGES OF THE prosecution of the crime, but which the higher courts have stated must be done.
The officers do to. He has a right to know upon arrest what he's being arrested for. That could have easily happened at the patrol car. If their patrol computer didn't pick up all the warrant details they could have requested a copy of the warrant from the originating state so that they could inform him within the first 24 hrs.
Even if someone is guilty, 17 days without a lawyer is inhumane -- let alone without being told what you've been accused of. 17 days for a stupid error that could be cleared up in minutes? I don't think the airline is the only entity culpable of a civil rights violations here.😡
@@covidpsychopath Source? I'm ready to believe that there are unconvicted individuals waiting trial. It's unconscionable that a "speedy trial" means "years later", but it's common. I'm not ready to believe that they have no lawyer, and haven't been arraigned. That sounds like the sort of rumor that spreads online without ever being backed up. Even if the mainstream media ignored it, I fully expect that I would have heard about this long ago if it was true.
@@covidpsychopath Um? OK. What do you think that I took wrong? I get that you were broadly agreeing with me, but I'm pretty sure that your example is fiction. That doesn't mean that you are lying, only that you heard something somewhere that is very unlikely to be true. If it was true, I would expect it to turn into a major controversy long, long ago. It doesn't pass the smell test, which is why I asked for a source. At any rate, I don't mean to argue about it. You can think of my reaction as an Internet version of a spit-take.
Imagine if he caught something like hepatitis c or a "legitimate" charge for defending himself or something. That would be a good question for Steve. If they put you in jail under false pretenses and you assault or kill someone, whether out of self defense or frustration/sport, can or will you get convicted or is the state the proximate cause?
I think the part that shocks me the most is the apparent arraignment/extradition hearing where the JUDGE did NOT tell him the charges? I think his lawyer needs to get the transcript of that!
An extradition hearing does not concern itself with whether the person committed the crime, only with whether the person is the same one the other state is asking for.
@@adrianmizen5070 There was a case in the 15th century where a guy was summoned to discuss what he thought was a disagreement on who owned some land. He arrived on found himself facing multiple murder charges (which historians think were fabricated by the guys who would have lost the land this guy was claiming). Yeah, it's an extreme example. But, things like that are why you have really good reasons to be told what the other state wants you for and what you're going to be charged with.
@@adrianmizen5070 actually when you fight extradition they have to prove the crime happened as well. That is why Arizona told NY to stuff it. He committed crimes in Arizona, and will be tried there. They refuse to prosecute anyone in NY so no crime is committed there and they don't get him.
As someone who has been in jail b4, I promise you it is life changing. I can’t imagine being jailed and not knowing why. It’s scary even when you know what’s going on.
The reason why they never tell you is because they don't want you to be prepared to defend yourself while they are doing everything they can to build a case against you
no .. award him whatever he's suing is worth. he suing the police department? he now OWNS the fn city that department is from. suing the airlines? he now OWNS the airline company. making it so serious problems like this end up destroying whomever started the bullshit
@Donald Thorpe Heh, nice. I love it when people call it like it is, "Just Us." Just a bunch of crap on paper to help the people who wrote it down get ahead in life. No different than a lease, or a mortgage, or a loan document, it exists for the author to profit from. And if it ever goes sour for them, they'll just go in and modify the terms so they come out ahead again.
This is not just on the airline, this is absolutely on the police department and the court system as well. They failed to do any type of due diligence and issued warrants simply on hearsay.
Its not hearsay the accuser identified the victim albeit incorrectly possibly maliciously. Hearsay would be if the accuser accused him because their coworker said it was him
The governments will as always duck and dodge responsibility as best they can, the airline will settle to cut losses in bad publicity. Just my opinion, could be wrong.
The "detective" here is just as much at fault as the airline. When he asked them for the recording and manifest and wasn't given it he should have pushed harder. "Why didn't you give me what I asked for? I need to do an investigation and you're risking obstructing that investigation by not providing me what I asked for. I don't care if you think this is who did it I need to investigate the crime and come to that conclusion on my own." What likely happened was the airline gave him this guy's name, he was thankful to not have to do extra work and sent it on through with the expectation that it'd get lost somewhere and nobody would question it or he'd catch charges in holding or was actually the one who did it. Not only was American at fault but this detective was negligent in the discharge of his duties. The detective should be fired, jailed, and American should be investigated for criminal misconduct, breach of public trust. Until we start to demand people be held accountable for their actions things like this will never stop and will only continue to get worse.
You missed one other point, the detective was given a photo of both the accused and the shoplifter why didn't he even look at them and see these two are not the same person? Good detective work there, I got a name case closed, lets not bother looking at any evidence.
I am former military. When I got out I worked around law enforcement, did my criminal justice, study my violence and aggression. We took a tour through our local prison. That was enough for me, you have no idea what that does psychologically. And the big point that seems to be missed here. With this man being put in general population, at any moment he risked being stabbed, being beaten, being raped. Rape is also accompanied with diseases that cannot be cured. Anyone who asks what is the big deal with this situation, has had a very comfortable and uneventful life. Many of us have been accused of things we've never done, but by the time you prove it the damages already done.
Remember. If anything happens? "Nothing happned" . Thanks to jail? I no longer fear anything anymore. And I just wait around till I die. Great being an innocent man in the system. I saw the deputy that gave me my special 1 am visit after I got out. I was with my son at a burrito place he wanted to go to. I have to admit. If my son was not there with me? I would've done exactly what he did to me right there in that lobby. And when the police come? I would simply say what they kept telling me in jail. "Nothing happned" .. The highlight of my time in jail was watching an inmate die in front of me and others from an Overdose. His name was Robert Forrest. And they killed him in that jail. They refused to call 911 until he stopped breathing. Then said the de-fib was just low on batteries. The truth is? They did not know how to use it. All 79 or so of us got to watch this. I had damn near a front row seat. At least his family may get a 10,000,000 lawsuit that was filed. But as far as i know? Its still going on. This happened in Multnomah county in Portland oregon. TO add insult to Injury? 2 days after I get out and am finished with my sentence, I go to a DV restrating order hearing where my ex admits in front of the judge that I never raped her. That's the whole reason why I was there. Imagine that. Get falsely accused of sexually assaulting someone and then having that happen to you? what a life! Of all the military training I have been through? Stories I have heard? I never thought this would happen to me in my own country I proudly, and honorably served.
Corporal punishment was superior to the cruel and awful prison system. Flog a man, beat him in public, but send him home to his family that night and he can go to work tomorrow morning. Today/ Put him in jail with violent thugs and human scum, a terrible wretched institution, and keep him there locked away for days, weeks, or months, where he is not productive to himself, society, and is taken away from a healthy environment. Everything about modern society is sickly, terribly backwards. And "humane" prison over beatings is another sick joke.
@@MickeyMishra my God that's a hell of a story. You should write a book, seriously! And then find a writer's group in your area to join, they will be able to help you get it published. I had the misfortune many years ago, of my mother marrying a Nazi war criminal. So as you can imagine I know what life was like when it came to punishment in a concentration camp. I've also been told I should write a book. I just have to restore my energy first, that part of my life still has me very tired.
@@AW-xz9vc I do car Audio and play with Led's. It's my thing. Books are nice and all. But I may be the only person who's crashed a spell check program twice in their lifetime. Dude, take the time and write about it and publish it. Amazon makes its easy to self publish these days. Just take your time. One chapter at a time. Me? I kept a daily journal and log of everything that went on in jail. Even if I had to write it on toilet paper. Be well brother. And put yourself FIRST in your life. Live the life you always wanted to live. 🌄
The fact that you hold the cops blameless is very troubling. They simply wouldn't listen to him and that is DEFINITELY something they should be concerned about as this case turns into a lawsuit.
The airline was grossly negligent in its reporting, but the police violated his Constitutional rights by holding him without informing him of his charges so he could effectively assert his other rights and for the retaliation when he tried to tell them they had the wrong guy. This actually appears to be a politically motivated incident: choosing a passenger who looks nothing like the shoplifter and then denying him his rights and putting him at risk.
@@DiffEQ I also notice that you are not addressing others here. I never say what I do, so how do you know what I should or should not have knowledge in?
If police "correctly" arrest somebody based on a third-party 's mistaken identification, the police did not "correctly" arrest them. You are wrong, Steve.
Police totally dropped the ball. The police should have did their own investigation and demanded that the entire boarding video and passenger manifest be sent after the aniline only sent the name of one guy. Lazy police handled this very poorly. And they know they won't get sued due to qualified immunity. Disgusting. The fact this guy didn't get a court-date for over a week, and they had no information regarding why he was arrested, and didn't get him an attorney is also disgusting on the part of the Quay County where he was jailed.
If there was no sworn complaint, or at one made under penalties of perjury, such that the complainant could be held accountable for a false complaint, I agree. Otherwise, a mere anonymous call about that pesky neighbor would have him out of my hair. So, yeah.
Really this is why the lawyer is saying it's all AA's fault, they have deep pockets and are far easier to sue than the police. The publicity might also get them to agree to a settlement.
All a function of how much money the man has or whether a really good lawyer will take up the case on a contingency. As Lehto said, suing AA will require discovery which is EXPENSIVE! Also, AA lawyers will make discovery doubly difficult, "He or she doesn't work here anymore." As Lehto said, a good lawyer will track them down, but again that costs money. AA's lawyers will hope that the suit runs out of money to proceed. The ace in their pocket if it does proceed is to settle with no admission of wrongdoing and an NDA to boot. I strongly suspect the man will get a settlement for a few hundred thousand, but not much more. If he wants or thinks he can get millions, he'll have to go to court, but AA's lawyers will certainly argue that it wasn't their fault he sat in jail for 17 days or that a warrant was issued without sufficient evidence or investigation. Why didn't the DFW detective inform the employee that the information provided was insufficient? Certainly the DFW detective should've known better? Furthermore, they can argue that they are just providing a service for the DFW airport since AA doesn't own any stores in the airport. So now AA has to worry about helping the DFW PD because it could result in them getting sued for the DFW PD's incompetence? So who's really to blame? Not AA, certainly. And convincing a jury might be very hard.
I’ve had false charges against me and was in jail for two weeks and house arrest for months. I had so much proof of my innocence that the person dropped all the charges before trial. No repercussions for them for ruining the rest of my time in high school, ended up dropping out because I had to switch schools. So yeah, spending weeks in jail for something you didn’t do is pretty terrible.
I had similar thing happened to me, I was accused of assault and da did not properly interview witnesses until week before trial only to learn it was self-defense. (I pepper sprayed someone after being sucker punched from behind) the first motion of the trial was to drop the charges. I also learned DAs do not like to pursue perjury charges because it it makes them look bad for not properly investigating before pressing charges. (I remember the assistant DA looking very frustrated when I refused to take a plea deal)
Why did you have to change schools and then drop out? Who forced you to drop out? Why no details as to what you were accused of or how this ruined the rest of your high school education? If you were, in fact, vindicated then everyone would have known it, right? I'm not arguing that being falsely accused isn't horrible... I'm just wondering why no details and where was your support? Family, friends, teachers, etc. I smell something foul about your story... you chose to share it but give no details and make it sound like you were just walking down the street whistling when a police van drove up and carted you off.
@@DiffEQ you are being deliberately obtuse. Culturally we assume being arrested must mean you did something bad. If he was still in school it would be even worse. Kids are notorious for being mean and vindictive. Wouldn’t take long for all sorts of rumors to start and once that happens Jesus come and explain the misunderstanding and wouldn’t matter.
Ive never had anything remotely like this happen to me. But i have been falsly accused of minor things as a youth....and 50 years later it still makes me so angry. And the experiences (though minor) have affected the way i have lived my life. This guy is owed - Big time!
That exact thing happened to my sister. It almost broke our family. We have just gotten back from a family cruise. We are all law abiding citizens. They would not tell us anything. It was mistaken identity.
Place me on the Jury. I would award 17 million dollars against the airline. An additional 17 million dollars against the AIRPORT POLICE, an additional 17 million dollars against the PROSCUTOR's office who filed the charges and an additional 17 million against any other investigative office that lead to this arrest, PLUS 17 million against the arresting authority who failed to disclosed the charges on the warrant and refused to consider his statement that they must have the wrong man. Total MINIMUM 85 million dollars. American Airlines has is wrong, but EVERY person including the investigating officer was wrong. That officer should actually have 17 million against him PERSONALLY. Around 100 million needs to be awarded. BTW, if the police had done their job they would have placed a WARRANT for the information, We need laws that do not allow any information from commercial entities to police without a warrant. That would end this issue.
@@richardpuckett8127 I know that experience! Shit my time in San Jose, they refused to tell me my charges on my they arrested me, Slamed me to the ground WHILE at WORK MIND YOU! And then let me go days latter and then refused me to see the judge. Hell they went apeshit I failed a grevince and they never got back to me. Snatching it out of my hands and threating me with more jail time. TO top that off>? The REFUSED to call an ambulance for me to take me the VA hospital. My feet were still bleeding. My god man. This system is hell. Even for just a Normal working blue collar electrician.
The problem is our corrupt authories are never held to account for their actions. The prisons, the courts, the Detective, the Airlines all never get held to account. I would like to see all the people that did this to him in jail for 17 days.
They're all pretty awful, with Delta being hands down the biggest POS airline. The problem is that they don't really care if they offer a quality product. If they end up in financial trouble, they'll get bailed out with tax dollars by their Gov't cronies.
I know of one case where a woman at an airport spotted a man who was wanted for being on the top 10 FBI criminal list, but when he was finally captured and identified properly, they found out he was the ACTOR who portrayed the wanted man on the TV program.
The lack of accountability for everyone involved is one of the many reasons people are becoming violent. The lack of social services is another big reason.
Justifying and deflecting is the new way. I’m glad I’m too old to learn this new way. I don’t have enough time left to figure out how to unlearn years of being polite and respectful of others.
"becoming violent?" We have 5,000 year of written records of people being violent. We have archiological evidence of people being violent going back before that.
I'd be suing the airline, the police, and the jail. The police are still responsible for doing a competent investigation no matter how much liberty the airline takes. The jail clearly violated the man's rights as retaliation.
The jail definitely. The cops in another state who cannot even see the guy and have nothing but a note to go on. Not so much. Remember the cops did view the tapes. The airline identified the guy on the tape as this guy when asked. The cops in Texas when they finally got to see the guy did drop the charges. Now the jail in New Mexico sounds like they could be subject to several class action suits besides what they personally did to this guy.
@@davidtherwhanger6795 Whoever issued the warrant in New Mexico without demanding to see the video first was negligent, how hard is it to call the airline back and say 'this isn't what we asked for, send us the videos'?
@@kurzabel The police in Texas did see the video. They issued a warrant based on the airline identifying the person in the video as this guy. The police in New Mexico acted on the warrant. The cops in Texas dropped the charges as soon as they saw this guy in person.
@@davidtherwhanger6795 if the cops viewed the video and thought the guy with the buzzcut and the guy with 2 inch long gray hair were the same person just because the airline said so then they shouldn't be cops. That alone is negligent.
That is crazy. Last month, I spent 5 days in a state psych-ward. I don't even remember the first two days I was there, because they drugged me for wanting to know why I was there. They told me, I could leave on the last day l was there, only if I signed some papers, saying I was voluntary!? or I wasn't going anywhere. The emotional toll is devastating. I can't go outside, the very thought fills me with dread.
those are even worse, because you're "not under arrest" but lost your freedoms regardless, and they even charge you for it! involuntary psychiatric holds are an injustice.
So imagine for a second that this person was the real shoplifter. Would all this process had been legal? Can you deprive a person of its liberty for 17 days without the person being able to defend himself because you are not even telling him what is he accused for? And what is the penalty for shoplifting anyway? Does a 1st-time shop lift offender actually serves any jail time?
You are so cheap, you won't even pay attention... 17 days was for open warrants in another state, not shoplifting. Don't you have parents that can explain this to you in greater detail?
All the Police and Jail in NM knew was that there was a Felony Warrant for Burglary out of TX. Seventeen Days in Jail in NM for TX to respond and pick him up seems a bit long, unless he was fighting extradition. In Tx, if the store he supposedly stole from was not open to the public at the time, or even if he reached up into one of those vending machines that sells say drinks, and took an item out without putting the money in would also be considered Burglary.
@@j.thomas7128 ... What I meant is that a person should not spend deprived of its liberty as an innocent person (that is, before trial and sentence), be it waiting for extradition or under pre-trial detention, more time than it would serve if the person was prosecuted, went through trial, and was found guilty.
I would tend to agree with the sentiment. I am surprised the local PD would bring him all the way back to Texas just to answer for a shoplifting charge. Especially when the Airline had his home address and contact information and they could have called his local PD to question him or arrest him. I would be curious if a notice to appear in court was ever sent to his home. Minimum effort on everyone's part.
I was arrested 3 months after I bought breakfast with a counterfeit $20 bill. I got stopped for not using a signal and then went on to find out I had a warrant for monetary instrument abuse for buying a breakfast for me and my worker. The crazy part is I called and ordered the food ahead of time then picked it up omw to work at 6am. I found out the store called the cops at 3pm and the detective never tried to even call me even though they had my info from me calling in the order. The store is 2 minutes from my home so that must have been some great detective work lol. The worst part is the DA refused to drop the charges even though I had no prior criminal record he dropped the charges the day of the court hearing but I still have a felony arrest on my record and I have even lost my ability to buy a firearm because of a felony arrest. They told me I need to hire an attorney and have my record expunged it's sad they way the system is. The worst part was I had just gotten the cash from the Banks ATM the day before it was my routine to get the same amount of cash out every week for work now I use my debit card and if I do use cash I make the cashier check the money in front of me.
A felony ARREST does not remove your right to keep and bear arms nor to purchase them. Only CONVICTION does. Not an attorney, not legal advice. I’m a gun rights activist.
It's disgusting that prosecutors will sit on charges for months *only to dismiss the case the day of trial.* It makes you wonder how long they've known the case wasn't viable...
I was arrested on a simple drunk and disorderly, jail overnight and court the next morning. Judge ordered me released and the jail just held me for an extra 8 days, when i would ask why am I not being released the answer was always either "shut up and step back" or "you know why" then on the 8th day they just released me at midnight. Never did get an explanation. If you are accused of something they don't feel obligated to treat you like a human.
> When I lived in Harris County, Texas (Houston) I had a neighbor who was a deputy sheriff. He said the way they handled drunks who mouthed off was to put handcuffs on them, put them in the back of the car, put the fear of God in them if they were capable of understanding what was going on and take them to jail for an overnight stay since the courts were closed by that time. Then, when they guy had sobered up the next day and he went to court, the cops wouldn't bother to show up and the judge would dismiss the charges. The guy's wife would be Poppa Oscared at him, his boss would be mad and perhaps he would have lost his job.
@@thewaywardwind548 cops here won't even let you make a phone call till you are sober. Extra 8 days, they would need new jailers, the ones their holding me would all be AWOL. Sheriff as well since he is in charge of the jail.
A friend of mine spent over a week in jail when his name came up with a warrant during a traffic stop. I turns out the warrant was for a man in his sixties who happened to have the same name. My friend was a 20-year-old college student. We all told him he should sue, but he wanted to forget it ever happened.
@@randysmith9715 I said he spent a week in jail. I never said he was arrested. Guy didn't get his rights read, didn't get a phone call. Just sat in a cell eating bologna sandwiches for like nine days waiting for Barney Fife to pull his head out.
The fact that the Judge he saw on Day 8 didn't tell him what he's Charged with is disturbing... I hope he Sues the Unholy Howling HELL out of American Airlines, both Police Departments involved and the Judge for the significant Violation of his Civil and Constitutional Rights! Once this is all settled, he, his Children and his Grandchildren should be able to Retire for life...
In my country, that judge would be banned and stripped of all titles and benefits from being a judge and ALL his cases re looked at. And would NEVER be allowed to try and be judge again.
@@dknowles60 regardless of political affiliation or party in power, i expect a fair and speedy resolution to issues like this one! and btw it wasnt the democrats ransacking congress and acting like some 3rd world idiots following a person with the emotional outburst a 2yr old would have, anyone arrested for events on jan 6th should know full well why and been expecting it. Not sure how folks think that event relates to case this video is about, all this guy is guilty of is a poor choice of airlines!
@@russcottrill7106 again why is it only dem run state that have the problems of lack of sence, New videos Show the people of the Us were lies about Jan 6th . add FBI had 48 hour notice and did nothing add that Nancy and chuck turn down National Guard troops what can you say
There was a similar story out of California. A woman was arrested after TSA noted she had the name which was the same as someone with warrants. She too spent about 2 weeks in jail.
This is horrifying and I feel absolutely terrible for this man! I hope he mops the floor with the airline! Even if he settles, I pray it’s worth the rest of his life!
And the detective who got the warrant has no culpability here? Or the judge that granted the warrant without any evidence? What kind of "detective" just gets one name from the airline when they asked for a list, and doesn't bother comparing the photo to the video in the first place? A lazy useless pos one that needs to be in jail themselves.
It's largely not the airlines fault. It seemed unclear to me whether they just sent one, and the cops ran with it. Or if they said this is the guy... But the charging cops clearly didn't look into anything if they had picked up photos, this guy doesn't look like thos guy.... then there's the jail .. .....
Don't the police have some negligence in this too? Can someone really just tell the police that a person broke the law and send a picture of a person, and the police say ” good enough, lock him up.”??
cops are protected by qualified immunity. they can get away with almost anything. To lose qualified immunity, your district court needs a precedent court case of another officer thats similar where the officer was found to have done something the court thinks they should have known they couldnt due. But a precident case is hard to come across since cases almost all get dismissed before they reach that point because of qualified immunity. Its a catch 22. You need a precedent case to lose qualified immunity, but precedent cases cant be made because qualified immunity dismisses all cases without a precedent case, so no primary precident case can ever be created. Basically you have to hope a precedent case was created in your circuit court district before the supreme court created qualified immunity in 1982.
Some police departments are really bad about this. If a business reports a crime then they act as though the accusations are true and fail to investigate or review the evidence first.
Yeah, I want to know how they got warrants from a judge with no evidence. Any individual waving a picture around and claiming it's a shoplifter is getting dismissed by the police but apparently not for big corporations. That's good enough for the Judge to issue warrants?
I couldn’t even finish watching this. I’m so glad he got out, but understand his anguish. I wish I could give this person a hug, cause he will need many of them in the future. I’m so sorry.❤️
So the issue is still with the police: - they did not inform him of charges - Police asked for full flight records and arrested him on basis of airline submitting only one name whose appearance did not seem to match person on camera: sure you can ask why the airline only submitted one name and not full manifest, but who should have asked the airline this? the police who is supposed to investigate and identify. the airline, they are supposed to fly planes....
The police didn't do their jobs. They need to investigate the facts before issuing an arrest warrant. There's no way they should arrest a person just because American Airlines says so. When American Airlines failed to provide the evidence the police asked for the police should have simply told them there wasn't enough evidence to move forward with the investigation unless the airline could provide more.
Let's say you have a party at your house. Something is stolen and you tell the police who stole it. Do you still expect the police to go and search every guests home? Or do you scream how the police violated all the others rights because you told the cops who did it? I can guess what the answer will be. And what it really is.
@@davidtherwhanger6795 What if the investigating officer didn't ask for a specific name but asked for security footage and a list of the guests? Sure, it's a shortcut to listen to the property owner say who they think stole from them but, people make mistakes or have prejudices or are actually just relaying the gossip they've been told. American Airlines deviated from company protocol and held back the requested info of security footage and passenger manifest, instead supplying only the single name- their mistake still left the cops with a decision to either reissue their request for evidence or take their email as infallibly correct.
Even if they had picked up the right guy, it's pretty clear his constitutional rights were violated. They need give that man some money. And there should be an investigation of that jail and the police department. Nothing about this is ok.
The negligence is almost unbelievable, at what point do the people consider something like this a successful kidnapping and attempt on an innocent man’s life?
You said detective.😆. Grossly negligent and incompetent. No follow up, no follow-through, no checking. I no longer have any confidence in law-enforcement.
Technically, the detective is going off what information he got from the Airline. When asked for the information he was given 1 name and a photo of 1 man that they claimed was the criminal. There was really nothing for the detective to look into.
@@truffleshuffle009 that detective didn’t do his job. You don’t issue a warrant for someone’s arrest off of insufficient evidence. No one who sent him that video was a direct eyewitness. That detective didn’t do their job and there’s no excuse for it
@@truffleshuffle009 Not true. He is the one swearing to the judge for the warrant that he knows what he is saying is true. He isn't telling the judge "This is what American Airlines told me". He needed to investigate the video with the information supplied. He didn't because AA did not share the information. Because he didn't when he swore out the warrant, he too (through the DFW Police) is also culpable.
@@alanmcentee9457 Edited as I found out more info.: Found a news story that said it was a burglary, not shoplifting like I was thinking. And the police did issue a search warrant for the airline for this information.
Darien Long's -And why would you? Especially in Texas, where corruption and laziness among leo's is the norm. I'm sure there are good cops in Texas. You know, the guys and gals that just started and haven't been disenchanted yet.
This is a glaring example of people who have not been convicted of any offence are treated as though they have been. The number of people who do not understand the presumption of innocence never ceases to surprise me, and that includes many people involved in law enforcement.
This was heartbreaking and infuriating. And one of many, many examples which show we in the USA do not have a Justice system. We have an Injustice system.
I mean there are plenty of worse systems, you think Mexican justice is better lol? You can find outrageous stories in most first-world justice systems like in the UK. Not to say the US doesn't have big issues in its justice system but it's certainly better than Japan or China or Russia or Mexico, just off the top of my head.
@@Inspectorzinn2 and I make dry meatloaf that's better than my fathers cooking, but that doesn't make my cooking taste any better when you actually have to sit down and eat, does it?
@@Inspectorzinn2 That's a cop out. We are not supposed to suck, like this. The other systems are supposed to worse than the USA. Are there any better systems?
@@Inspectorzinn2 Wrong is wrong. Neither mature adults nor established nations should rationalize away their problems by directing attention toward another's more egregious faults. The better approach is to recognize the problem and take firm steps towards rectifying the problem.
You're giving these cops a pass, They issued warrants on the word of an airline without doing their own investigation, Also his rights were violated in New Mexico. In summary in summary nobody did their job so they all should be Subject to legal action
It is considered reasonable suspicion but the airline's noncompliance destroyed that reasonable suspicion. The police failed by putting their trust in the airline without evidence.
@@kerwinbrown4180 there's no cop in the US, nor attorney apparently, who has the slightest clue what reasonable is supposed to mean. They don't have a clue what objective is either.
"...in grossly unsanitary conditions..." Seems like punishment before conviction. Like "innocent until proven guilty" is out the window in New Mexico. But even if it did come after conviction,this should never be part of the punishment. Common across America, this is proof of a broken criminal justice system!
So just on Constitutional violations, they violated how many of his Constitutional rights? Right to counsel, right of Habeas Corpus, right to know your accusers and the charges against you (and knowing that Texas wants to extradite him isn't sufficient to meet that requirement), and probably a few more. Also, warrants were issued for his arrest, yet he was never served with an order to appear even though his home address would almost certainly have been on that passenger info page they gave DFW Airport Police. Isn't that also a violation of some sort of right?
But who's enforcing the constitution? The constitution exists to restrict the actions of the government, so clearly an entity other than the government is required to enforce it. When the constitution was made that enforcement was done by the citizenry on the threat of civil war and rounding up the offenders to be put against a wall. Nowadays people let the people these laws are supposed to target enforce them, and as a result every time it's broken they go "whoopsie", take the citizen's money, give it to the aggrieved party and pretend the issue has been resolved. It's like letting a crack dealer enforce drug laws.
Held for 17 days and then released onto the street and left to find his own way home without ANY official explanation for his ordeal? I would bankrupt this town with a lawsuit.
In the old days, if someone brought a false accusation against someone else, they would suffer the punishment that would have been meted out if they were found guilty.
I've unfortunately been to prison around 39 times (give or take one, seriously, I lost count 🙄) and I can tell you right now that if you were actually a law abiding citizen and you spent 17 days in prison not knowing why or even how that happened it will traumatise you, ffs, I'm traumatised by all those prison stays and I knew exactly why I was there, I can't imagine how much worse I'd feel if the same thing happened to me... And what makes it worse is that the prisons I've been to, although they were rough, they certainly weren't unsanitary, at least not for the most part, the odd cockroach and MASSIVE rats 🐀 but mostly livable, I've seen what the jails this guy went to are like and they literally turn my stomach, I feel bad for the guy... 😔
I'm questioning the entire arrest warrant and court date procedure. The airlines AND government know where the people live who are flying in the US. How did they not contact him in any way?
Isn’t the whole point of an arraignment to inform the accused of the charges against him? No arraignment because the charges were from out of state maybe?
I'm pretty sure you're right. The man did get a hearing to waive extradition. Meaning it was on Quay Co, NM to transport him back to Ft. Worth. Odds are they weren't in a real hurry to bring him back after he waived extradition. Tucumcari isn't a big town and it's about the only town in Quay County. It might have gotten the man out faster if he'd not waived extradition then Tarrant County (with a lot more officers) would have had to come get him. I grew up in the county next door in Texas. Tucumcari is not a town I'd want to be stuck without a ride or family in. I doubt there's even a practicing criminal attorney in Tucumcari, you'd have to call someone from Albuquerque.
I would be deeply traumatized by that experience. I would not go through it voluntarily for $5 million, so I oiled direct my attorney to sue them for $8 million (lawyer wants his cut).
I'm not a lawyer but, lol, It seems like letting the airline do the investigation and not double-checking the investigation themselves, that police are just as responsible for the mistake.
I would seek damages against American Airlines at 1 million per day. I would seek the same damages from the prison. Then I would sue the officers individually for operating on hearsay, rather than evidence as a violation of Civil Rights under the Color of Law.
Why in hell is there no "right to be told what I am accused of"??? Of all the basic, fundamental concepts of justice this one should be root level zero. how are you supposed to prepare a defense if you dont even know what, when you are defending against?
We have some areas that effectively allow looting of drug stores, other areas that allow this to happen. Maybe it is time to standardize law enforcement on a federal level.
@Edward Wood That is a bad idea. If you will notice these are 'sanctioned' lootings in Leftist-run areas. This isn't occuring in Republican run areas, nor are they suggesting a national police. This is deliberate incompetence to get people to suggest a national police. National police is a Leftist solution as it consolidates power. Consolidated power leads to mass genocides. In 1st and 2nd world countries it is Leftism that has had all the mass genocides. Bad idea!
Now imagine if this guy while in jail ended up in a fight thus getting additional charges. After being cleared of the original charges he’d still end up incarcerated. This type of thing happens a lot. I’m not saying jail is intended to be fun, but once you’re put in handcuffs you are lower than dirt. Jailers do not care about you. It is really sad this happens in today’s day and age.
The guy that Mike Pence refused to pardon for murder (it was obviously a different person) got in a fight in prison (most likely protecting himself). That is one reason Pence did not issue the pardon.
There’s a guy here in Florida who was arrested decades ago on a minor BS charge (probably shouldn’t have even been charged) but due to repeated escape attempts and such is still in prison.
That would require prosecutors actually carrying out some of the scum in their jail gets their teeth beat out... They don't. Charges wouldn't be filed.
ROOM ELEPHANT: One of the first cases I read about, about thirty years ago, was about the Public Duty Doctrine. Police had arrested a hooker, took her across the large city, booked her into jail, taking all her money, then released her with a check, in place of her money. The only way she had to get back home, across that big city, was on her thumb. Halfway home, she was raped and beaten. In a subsequent case, a court ruled the police developed a duty of care the moment they took control of the hooker. As such, they had a duty to get her back to her place of safety. Accordingly, the city suffered a significant judgement.
In his place, I would spend the rest of my living days suing to have my criminal record cleaned out totally, and get a trillion dollar in damages out of this dystopian nightmare. I'm so glad that my sister - naturalized and all - decided after ten years to return to Europe and never to go back to the United States of Kafkaesque Horror again.
I wasn't arrested but after my experience with American Airlines years ago I decided never to fly with them again unless I HAD to go somewhere and I had no other way to get there. Hopefully this guy and his attorney will get millions for his inconvenience.
@@MickeyMishra You are correct. Things like this are not supposed to happen, safeguards are supposed to be in place to prevent them. Where ever I finally settle down I am going to find a good lawyer and get to know him and be able to call him should I ever need him. The police and other agents of the law may have QI but A.A. doesn't, so go after them for everything you can.
This seems like a police problem to me. they arrested somebody with only an accusation and zero evidence, and refused to tell him his charges or why he was being detained
@@johnvienta7622 That is not quite correct. The police department that issued the warrant took the Airline's word for it. The police department that detained him did it solely on the warrant from the other department. It is very common for one police department to detain someone with outstanding warrants from other departments outside of their jurisdiction. Criminals tend to flee the scene of the crime after all. You have to understand that a judge signed off on the warrant. Based on the information provided by either the police department or the DA. Odds are it was the police who submitted the warrant for the signature and if the judge doesn't ask the right questions, wouldn't be aware that there was an issue with the evidence presented.
@@superdave8248 , I believe that you meant to write " alleged criminal" as the man had not been convicted of any criminal act. There is a rule that all Police should follow and that is that when you are dealing with a matter that has come from another person or department you read it fully, from the back as we used to say, due to more recent additions to the file being at the front of the file or report. If that had been done the Police who arrested him would have seen that correct procedures had not been undertaken and they should have initiated their own inquiry.
I agree he needs to go after the airline, but this is an all to common story with cops and courts. They actually try to force people to take pleas to make innocent people sound less than credible.
Not only American... The officers involved, the prosecutor, and - yes - even the judge ... each step where somebody could have gotten more information and ended it. Each named for the full suit ... 17 million, for time in jail, plus 1 million each punitive per day, so 17 mil punitive against AA, 17 million for the prosecutor, etc. Next time maybe they spend ten minutes getting more information? make a call or two?
This is why I absolutely believe we need to end qualified/absolute immunity. Once these people start having their lives ruined, and have to sell their homes to pay for attorneys we will get back to constitutional based LE.
I have a few questions and they are what I think legitimate questions: Why wasn’t he arraigned? Why was nothing done in a timely manner? 2-1/2 weeks is not timely. How could the court issue another warrant for this man if he was being held without bond and without arraignment? There’s a whole slew of other questions and this whole case stinks to high heaven. I sincerely hope he wins a massive judgment against all involved including the airline, Texas and New Mexico. I also hope that the sheriffs department that was holding him in new Mexico Is eviscerated during an investigation of their actions.
Out of state warrant & extradition. It's pretty much the worst of the worst when it comes to being falsely accused for a relatively minor crime b/c the arresting agency has nothing to do with your with your charges. They're just holding you, waiting on the other agency & extradition hearings & whatever. But still, it should *_not_* take 17 days. But it's still gonna take far longer than if the same charges occurred locally. All b/c of the extradition bullshit.
I was curious if the New Mexico department or jail ever notified the Texas department they had him. Maybe that was part of the story about the New Mexico jailers not liking him.
That is a good question. Clearly this guy was / had to have been arraigned (with or without his knowledge) to be given a court date. Charges were filed against him, and dismissed by the DA, so clearly he had to arraigned to be released. Starting to think Steve might be embellishing, leaving out some of the information in these stories, to make them more interesting/ garner more views/ comments ETC. Lets not forget, Steve is a Lawyer.
Airlines have no authority to arrest people therefore it wasn't their mistake. The suit should be directed at the police for failing to do due diligence and to the individual employees who called the police.
This is a shameful tale from every angle. Hopefully this victim will hire high-powered, household name-type, representation to determine ALL liable parties, then file multiple suits for each identified negative outcome/symptom (including mental/emotional e.g. “hyper-vigilant” behaviors). Kafka revealed amazing, many dark, insights a century ago. This horrendous situation could happen to any of us. This presentation is well-communicated. I’m a new subscriber!
Hope the man gets multiple gargantuan checks - sounds like he could use, and earned, one hell of a vacation. As an aside...things like this are exactly why people hate cops and believe our justice system to be an utter and complete joke, run by mindless bureaucratic doofuses that have no care and limited accountability. For such a grandiose, and multi-step, violation of his civil rights - I personally would expect jail time for them (lmao, yea, i know). Tit for tat.
1) Cops (GOV.) are not your friends 2)no crime happened loud partying (?) 🤫 so 3) refusal to a random ID request, isn't illegal, it's highly logical to keep your name out of a criminal system that will label you a person of interest/ possible gang affiliation for being ID'd questioned in a certain area. ✌️
When you said there was another warrant issued because he missed a court date he wasn't told about, I immediately thought about the Ruby Ridge incident.
In Ruby Ridge they changed the date, and moved to court to another one hundreds of miles further from his house. He was a subsistence farmer, with no money and no transportation. And he lived a hunfred miles in the woods with no street address, in order to have received the summons in the first place.
I know personally how governments screw things uo and hold innocent people responsible for their errors. I was in the Navy for 6 yrs, and after I went too renew my driver's license just to find out they had am arrest warrant. I checked to find out why, and it was for failure to pay excise tax. And the tax bill was for a city I never lived in to an address I never loved at and on a car that was never registered on that state. It tool a month to prove that I didn't owe that money. And that since they sent the bill to the wrong address, it never got to me in the firsr place since I didn't and never lived at the address they sent the incorrect bill in the first place.
As someone who was wrongly detained for several hours in a foreign country for no particular reason, I have an idea of what this guy went through, although his situation was probably about 1,000% worse than mine.
How can someone be "correctly arrested" based on someone's mistake? Why are the police not expected to verify who they are incarcerating and why? I hope this gentleman gets a great attorney and a LARGE settlement.
for one, he was in a completely different jurisdiction and if there is an arrest warrant, regardless if the material facts of the warrant are wrong...the arrest in another jurisdiction is "correct" as the other police department does not know the facts of the case. As for the time he was in jail, I'd say if he had a lawyer none of this would have happened...I'm sure he had an opportunity to make a phone call, wonder who that was to and why he didn't get a lawyer from day one. I don't see any claims that he was denied a lawyer, only that he didn't have one and that is ENTIRELY his fault. Jails do not deny you the use of a phone while you are there, especially for 17 days LOL, he was just an idiot who didn't get a lawyer. If he had a lawyer I bet the lawyer would have demanded to know the charges at his first hearing. The judge probably thought he already knew them because the he obviously did not ask the judge what the charges were, pretty sure the judge would have told him it was an extradition hearing etc.
Even if the arrest was warranted, I can't imagine rounding up everyone at a party and demanding their papers based on some vague report of a "disturbance" was.
I wonder why, when the police received his name instead of the passenger manifest, the detective who issued the warrant didn't query why American Airlines did that? In the UK, I believe that the police would would want to look at the evidence themselves rather than just prosecute whoever an individual named.
Not even that, AA would have provided enough information on the passenger that the lazy DFWPD detective could have gotten an image of his driver license. Then taken that driver license photo and compared it to the surveillance image. The guy makes a College Humor parody of Batman look like a capable investigator.
This whole thing is completely fkd up, the shoplifter, whom ever that was didn't rob American Airlines, they allegedly robbed/ shoplifted one of the airports tenants/ vendors, and that would usually be the city that owns the airport. I've never heard of an airline owning a metropolitan airport. Heads and wallets really should be rolled here.
Both the police and airline are to blame.. 17 days in jail for shoplifting?! And deny telling the man why too? 100% police wrong doing and AA wrongdoing. No reason to be in jail for no longer than a couple days max for simple shoplifting.
Don't forget the damage an arrest record causes! Yes, you might get a judge to expunge your record, but in many places the publish arrest data in the local newspapers and your neighbors, A.K.A. the Court of Public Opinion, reads it, and they never forget!
Steve, how can you say that the police weren't at fault this time? The entire situation this poor man landed in was amplified sevenfold by the police gross negligence and due process laws.
Steve, if that guy didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all. I hope he receives an award good enough that he'll never have to work again & can travel the globe.
