San Antonio: Man wrongly arrested, same name on warrant

[seamusTX]

In San Antonio last month Bexar County deputies arrested a man named Jose Hernandez on a warrant for sexual assault (a.k.a. rape) out of Harris County.

Mr. Hernandez was arrested at his home.

He happened to have the same first and last name and birth date as the actual suspect. He is 49 years old, 6 feet 1 inch tall, and weighs 230 pounds. The suspect is listed as 5 feet 7 inches and about 190 pounds.

The family of Mr. Hernandez bailed him out to the tune of $22,500. This money went to a bail bondsman and is not refundable. They also got connected with a lawyer who investigated the case pro bono.

When prosecutors in Harris County understood that Mr. Hernandez was not the suspect, they released him. He still has an arrest record for rape that he has to pay a lawyer to get expunged.

The actual suspect is still at large.

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They call this the "justice system."

- Jim

[mamabearCali]

Can a person sue for malfeasance...this is utterly ridiculous.

[seamusTX]

Suing the police for an arrest requires the plaintiff to prove something like gross negligence or malice. It's quite rare for that to be successful.

This seems unfair to people who are wrongly arrested—and it is. However, about half the people who are arrested have charges dropped, and they all think they are victims of oppression (and racism if relevant).

- Jim

[RPB]

Same type thing happened to my brother in Harris County in the 1970s, not only the same name, but both had white Ford cars and same hair color-red ... took a lawyer and over a few months to get him out (first lawyer had a heart attack during the ordeal) and he got really ill while he slept on the floor in that overcrowded place

[seamusTX]

An adult man with red hair is extremely rare in and of itself.

Probably a lot of people have the same name and birth date, especially with relatively common names. Over 10,000 babies are born in the U.S. every day.

It seems like there are 10,000 people with my name who owe money to someone, and the creditors keep calling me.

- Jim

[n5wd]

It happens more often than you might imagine. There was a gent in Fort Worth, a hispanic man, who had the unfortunate ability to come to the attention of law enforcement folks quite frequently, for relatively minor problems (traffic, a PI, penny ante stuff). Till one day, up popped a homicide warrant for him from New York City PD. Name(s) matched. DOB matched. Physical description matched. Except he said he'd never been in New Yawk City.

The officer hauled him in and had to baby sit him while the warrant verification process took place. First, it took an awfully long time to contact the NYPD detective that held the warrant. Then, he wanted to make sure that our guy was his guy and faxe'd a picture of him to us. He, in return, got a picture FAX'ed to him. Took about six hours to find out that it wasn't the same person - obvious when you looked at the pictures, but everything else matched.

Over the course of the years I worked for FWPD in the Police Info Center, I must have run this guy probably six or seven times, and each time up popped the NYPD warrant. Finally had to post a "located" on it so it could be ignored the next time it hit. Don't know if NYPD ever got their guy, but ya had to feel somewhat sorry for the local. Of course, there was never any mention of 'false arrest' - he was usually just glad to get fed while he was in custody, then released.

Unavoidable until everyone in the country has a national ID and is required to carry it (like an internal passport so many different countries have) and provides DNA/fingerprints at birth. Which means, it'll probably never be different here in the USA.

[seamusTX]

Someday everyone will be microchipped at birth, except for the Amish. It will be for the safety of the children. Probably not in my lifetime, but it will happen.

They will ease it in by doing it to criminals first, then people who enlist in the military, like dogtags, then everyone who has a TWIC clearance, etc.

- Jim

[WildBill]

- Jim

You're lucky your name isn't Jose Garcia.

Actually, I have a friend, Jose Garcia. If I didn't already have his phone number and email there is no way I could track him down.

[seamusTX]

My real name is Jim Casey. I don't make a secret of it. If that's all you know about me you won't find me on the internets. Jim Casey was the founder of UPS (who became quite wealthy), a character in The Grapes of Wrath, a famous wrestler in the mid-20th century, and a few other people who spread their name around for commercial purposes.

No notorious criminals as far as I know.

- Jim

[seamusTX]

P.S.: I never thought about it in terms of getting arrested, but the police chief and sheriff know me by name. That can't hurt if an arrest warrant goes out for someone with my name.

Unless you live in a populous city/county like San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, etc., you can easily get to know both. Police chiefs typically make the rounds of community groups and attend city council meetings. Sheriffs run for office.

- Jim

[jimlongley]

My real name is Jim Casey. I don't make a secret of it. If that's all you know about me you won't find me on the internets. Jim Casey was the founder of UPS (who became quite wealthy), a character in The Grapes of Wrath, a famous wrestler in the mid-20th century, and a few other people who spread their name around for commercial purposes.

No notorious criminals as far as I know.

- Jim

Safety in numbers, there are lots of Jim Longleys in the world, most of them are not me.

[seamusTX]

Safety in numbers, ...

As this story shows, it's a mixed blessing. God forbid you should turn on the radio one morning and find out someone with your name had been charged as a serial killer or scam artist—or worse yet having the FBI show up at your door.

- Jim

[brainman]

I'll bet Gerry Sandusky (the Baltimore sports reporter, not the Penn State coach) agrees with you.

[JALLEN]

I probably know 3 dozen or so Jim Allen's here, and 3 of us are lawyers.

There used to be all kinds of annoying confusion until one day I got a phone call from a woman, and had no idea what she was talking about. I said, "I think you may have the wrong Jim Allen." She asked, "Which one are you?" I replied, "Well, there is the smart one, the rich one, and the good looking one. Who are you trying to reach?"

For some reason, there has been no confusion since that day.

It's not funny sometimes. One day, a lawyer year got the morning paper to learn that another lawyer with the same name had been disbarred.

I went to school with a kid named Allen James. That really screwed things up, too.