Close Enough For Police Work? Denver Police Arrest Mother on Way to Pick Up Daughter At School — Despite the Fact that She Looks Nothing Like Suspect

Christina FourHorn is suing the Denver police department in a bizarre mistaken identity case that led to her jailing — and an alleged refusal of police to listen to repeated efforts to show that they had the wrong person. It is only the latest in such mistaken identity arrest cases.

FourHorn was surprised by three police cars that came screeching into her front yard as she was setting out to pick up her daughter at school. They arrested her for robbery and threw her into jail for five days. It took five days for her husband to get loans from friends to bail her out.

She and her family repeatedly tried to get the officers at the scene and at the station to give them some idea of what she was being accused of but were rebuffed. It turns out that they were looking for a Christin FourHorn, who happens to live in Oklahoma. A Christina FourHorn in Colorado was deemed close enough. It did not matter that Christina is about 100 pounds heavier than the suspect, has a different middle name, does not have a telltale tattoo, is seven years older, and looks nothing like the suspect.

The ACLU is taking the case and charges that such mistaken are all too common in Colorado — the organization has identified 237 such cases.

Not only that, her family will not get back the $3,500 that they paid the bondsman to get her out of jail.

For the full story, click here.