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.
@Coloradan – I stand by what I said too.
You say that I am painting with too wide of a brush, so lets be absolutely clear – do you disagree with me that the average LEO doesn’t know who the ‘bad/dirty’ LEOs are on thier force? They don’t know who takes a little more liberty with certain suspects and is a little quicker to pull out the tazer (and fail to report it)? Or the cop who decides to let another cop call his wife to come pick him up and ‘sleep it off’ rather than cite him for the DUI – the same cop who would quickly put you or I (well maybe not you if you whipped out your dispatcher credentials) in jail for the identical offense? If I knew someone was stealing from my work and I did not report it, I would be fired too – and because of my fiduciary responsibilities and legal obligations to my clients, I could even potentially face criminal charges if I didn’t report it – thats not the same for cops. I could literally link hundreds of stories backing up this claim – and those are only the ones that came to light usually because of video or audio evidence, how many thousands never make it to the surface. The culture of cops is to look out for thier own even if it means looking the other way or lying – do you disagree?
Let me paint with an even broader brush for you, I prefer to avoid ANYONE who is openly carrying a collection of weapons including a gun on thier hip. To whatever extent legally and reasonably possible, it is better to have no contact or conversation with someone carrying a collection of weapons on thier hip with extrordanary powers to potentially take away your rights. I encourage everyone to do the same – and I would expect that the majority of people visiting a blog discussing legal theory would tend to agree.
The article says the details of the settlement are confidential. Based on settlements for other wrongful arrest stories I’ve heard, I imagine she got much, much more than her $3,500 back.
How on earth can they not get back the 3,500?! Then at least give her about 35,000 in compensation for jailing her for no reason. This is insane.
Not that I’d be too good a cop to make such a move, ofcourse. For instance, if I saw a loyal Bushy, I’d always immediately jail them for war crimes, grand theft treasury, treason and genocide, even if they sounded like reasonable people. But that’s just the risks of the profession I guess.
Damage Controller?
A rose by any other name…
Who is Damage Controller? That was my quote.
No, I imagine we agree on this one. Video taping the police should be legal unless you’re actually getting in the way.
“2. Do what we can to reduce the incidents of improper police conduct to the extent possible.” – Damage Controller
You mean like outlawing the very act of video taping them breaking the law, like they’re doing in Beantown?
Like that?
Except apparently you.
“First… “deputy dawg”?” -Coloradan
It’s a joke. Lighten up.
“Second… perhaps the problem is that I am unable to determine what exactly you *are* trying to say. ” -Coloradan
Well the reason you’re having problems determining what I’m saying is because you keep merging it with what other people said. Classifying me by someone else’s sentiment is sort of in the spirit of what you’re in here claiming to be condemning, isn’t it?
“Clearly, you *don’t* have an deep-seated animosity against all law enforcement, despite statements you have made that would lead any reasonable person to believe exactly that.” -Coloradan
Clearly I don’t.
And clearly what I do have based on my comments is a deep-seated hatred of corruption.
As does every decent red blooded American.
“After all, if they are afraid, then that’s the only answer they’re likely to give now isn’t it?
They’re sure as hell not going to complain.” – Gerty
Of course! 90% of all Americans are so afraid of law enforcement that they will lie on a survey about their attitudes toward law enforcement. Okay. That seems unlikely, but if that’s what you believe there’s nothing else to say.
“I never said that first of all there deputy dawg, so please keep your accusations straight.
And since that’s not what AJ said either, apparently when cornered you turn to lying.” – Gerty
First… “deputy dawg”?
Second… perhaps the problem is that I am unable to determine what exactly you *are* trying to say. Clearly, you *don’t* have an deep-seated animosity against all law enforcement, despite statements you have made that would lead any reasonable person to believe exactly that.
Law enforcement is necessary, unless your one of those people who believe that society would be crime free if we would only resort to an honor system. Rather than hysterically reacting to individual incidents, it might be better to:
1. Note that the vast majority of police contacts do not involve malfeasance or incompetence.
2. Do what we can to reduce the incidents of improper police conduct to the extent possible.
3. Realize that this reduction will never be to zero, since any system involving decisions being made by human beings is necessarily flawed.
After all, if they are afraid, then that’s the only answer they’re likely to give now isn’t it?
They’re sure as hell not going to complain.
“Actually, the vast majority of people (90%) who have contact with the police state that the police acted properly” -Coloradan
That’s a pretty big number. 90 percent.
Kind of like the numbers you see in dictatorships, where the people are afraid, huh?
“The public are the ones getting falsely imprisoned, beaten, tasered and killed. Who’s ambivalent about a nylon night stick upside the head? Or seeing their 72 year old grandfather being tasered by a bunch of cops? Who would be ambivalent about that?
The public’s not ambivalent.
The public’s afraid.” – Gerty
Actually, the vast majority of people (90%) who have contact with the police state that the police acted properly:
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=653
Furthermore, most people favor expanded powers in a number of situations:
http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t227.pdf
By all means, don’t let the facts get in the way of your hysteria.
You were wrong. We did not extrapolate what you claimed based on this one action by the DPD.
And AJ did not say they all screwed up. He said they were guilty by association for allowing it and not doing enough to combat it.
And what’s more I have yet to see anyone endorse that sentiment of AJ’s.
I’m not sure why you came in to mock everyone on this article but you ended up mocking yourself, as there’s nothing more ridiculous than making baseless claims and then calling everyone else the ridiculous ones.
No, you can’t win with someone who when cornered turns to inventing imaginary sentences like “All cops are crooked and screw up all the time”.
I never said that first of all there deputy dawg, so please keep your accusations straight.
And since that’s not what AJ said either, apparently when cornered you turn to lying.
Facts are what I deal with sir, so keep your facts straight.
All cops are crooked and screw up all the time, but I’m not painting them all with the same brush!
Whatever. You win. Can’t argue with logic like that.
“Based on the comments to this post, I would also argue that the public isn’t ambivalent.- Coloradan
Why would they be?
The public are the ones getting falsely imprisoned, beaten, tasered and killed. Who’s ambivalent about a nylon night stick upside the head? Or seeing their 72 year old grandfather being tasered by a bunch of cops? Who would be ambivalent about that?
The public’s not ambivalent.
The public’s afraid.
Sybil, you appear to be arguing with yourself.
Nor was he.
Guilt by association is a completely different topic.
” “No one is extrapolating the actions of these officers to the other 1500 officers of the DPD, or the hundreds of thousands of police officers nationwide.” – Gerty
“Helps if you read the comments prior to calling them ridiculous.” – Gerty
“So even the ‘clean’, responsible, and upstanding cops are almost always dirty in my book – because they knowingly and passively allow thier co-workers to violate peoples rights and break laws. It’s better to just assume you are dealing with a dirty cop and later be proven wrong than to be in a cop-said/perp-said situation.” – AJ
Yeah, I stick by my comments, Gerty. Ridiculous.” -Coloradan
No what’s ridiculous is trying to conceal the fact that you were wrong, and no one was accusing all the police over this one incident by quoting AJ.
His comment doesn’t change the fact that no one was accusing all cops based on this one action as you incorrectly boasted.
You were wrong. No one was extrapolating what you claimed.
AJ’s comment deals with something police constantly accuse citizens of, i.e. “guilt by association” so its not even applicable to the point.
The fact that AJ considers all cops guilty by association has nothing to do with your ridiculous claim that we were extrapolating the actions of these officers to the other 1500 officers of the DPD and the hundreds of thousands of police officers nationwide.
We were not.