I seriously doubt she was a flight risk.
And I am equally sure there are all sorts of "teens" and aspiring rappers that deserve the same level attention given to this gal.
Posted on 04/01/2015 4:58:00 PM PDT by Gamecock
Arrested and handcuffed as her 12-year-old daughter watched from a nearby window, April Christina Carter spent two days held without bond in a Greenville County Detention Center cell with a double-murder suspect.
Her offense: a $50 speeding fine that she said she had paid more than a decade ago but which remained on the books in Greenville County, triggering a bench warrant for her arrest.
Two days after she was taken into custody in the driveway of her mother’s house, Carter was released from the jail without explanation.
Now, Carter is suing Greenville County, Sheriff Steve Loftis and Deputy John Spencer Williams Jr. alleging they violated her constitutional rights and for false imprisonment, negligence and assault.
Her complaint, filed in Common Pleas Court in October, also lists as defendants two unknown county employees identifed as John Doe and Jane Doe.
In a court filing, the defendants denied wrongdoing and asked that the complaint be dismissed. The Sheriff’s Office referred questions to Christopher Antley, a Greenville attorney for the defendants. He couldn’t be reached.
“One of the biggest fears we have in our society is doing what you are supposed to do, being a law-abiding citizen, and being pulled over and arrested and incarcerated for 2½ days for no reason other than a government official didn’t do their job properly,” said Peter Protopapas, one of Carter’s attorneys.
According to Carter’s complaint and her attorneys:
In October 2001, when she was 18, Carter was cited for driving too fast for conditions or speeding less than 10 mph over the speed limit.
The citation called for her to appear in court for trial two months later. On the scheduled day of her trial, Carter appeared in court and paid a $50 fine. She received a receipt from West Greenville Summary Court and was told that by paying her fine, the issue was resolved and she was free to go.
She never received notice that her ticket hadn’t been paid, nor was her driver’s license revoked or suspended for failure to pay a traffic citation.
More 11 years later, when Carter pulled into her mother’s driveway that day in March 2013 and got out of her vehicle, two uniformed sheriff’s deputies parked behind her.
One of the deputies told Carter to put her belongings on the ground and her hands on the roof of the car. Her mother, aunt and daughter were in the house and watching.
One deputy told Carter she was being pulled over because a car fitting her vehicle’s description had been reported stolen.
A background check on her license turned up an outstanding Greenville County bench warrant from her 2001 citation.
Carter was arrested for failure to appear for the citation, even though she told deputies “on numerous occasions” she had paid the ticket on time.
She alleged in her complaint she was handcuffed, searched, placed in the patrol car and driven away while her family watched.
Carter was taken to the Greenville County Detention Center, where she was booked, searched again, fingerprinted and photographed, her complaint said. Then, she alleged, she was placed in a cell with a double-murder suspect and held without a bond hearing.
No criminal charges were filed and she remained in jail for two days before being released “with no further explanation,” Carter said.
In her suit, Carter contends the bench warrant was “facially deficient and obviously invalid” because it only stated she had been convicted of a speeding violation in October 2001 but failed to specify facts constituting a criminal offense such as failure to appear or failure to pay the fine.
She alleged she has suffered “stigmatism of reputation and character,” mental and emotional distress, depression and anxiety as a result of her arrest.
In their answer to the complaint, the defendants said they acted reasonably and in good faith and didn’t violate any of Carter’s “clearly established” rights. In addition, they said they were employees of a governmental entity and immune from the suit under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act.
A trial date hasn’t been set. Carter is asking for a jury trial and for actual and incidental damages. She also is seeking punitive damages.
Holding someone in jail without charges, slapping an, at worst, a traffic ticket, in a cell with a multiple killer, and you’d apologize for the cops?
In the spirit of compromise, why don’t we take the sheriff down to the state prison, throw him in general population for 48 hours, and tell the inmates they need to behave because there is a cop in the cell block.
Good cops should be respected. Bad cops should be tarred and feathered, and then punished.
An emotionally based argument that leaves the source of the problem completely untouched.
The police KIDNAPPED her.
...........you have the best idea, so far, on this thread!
I love it!!!
The follow on to your suggestion is that we need legislation to enable exactly what you suggest!
After reading this I still have a comment for Obama. Please outline the laws that we LEGAL citizens of the USA are allowed to break.
And licking jackboots touches the problem?
I hope she takes ‘em to the cleaners.
I can’t help wondering if she didn’t draw their attention because she is a very attractive woman. If they just stopped her for being a blonde driving solo, then she really does have a case, the arrest was the result of malice, not negligence. I want to see specifically what report of a stolen car they were reacting to. Sounds like B.S. to me.
She got a ticket when she was 18 “for driving too fast for conditions or speeding less than 10 mph over the speed limit.” Total BS. When she was 18 a cop stopped her because, hot as she is at 32, she must have really been a babe at 18. Who Hell gets pulled over for less than 10 miles an hour over the limit? Young blondes. She apparently failed to accommodate the cop, so he gave her a ticket. Pathetic.
Nope. The cops screwed up. A simple radio call could have confirmed her story. Instead they got all “law enforcement” on her. I hope they lose their pensions.
L
Dang, white people whine when you lock them up by mistake. I guess if you were a better driver, there wouldn’t have been a problem.....
I spent an afternoon in jail once because of a bench warrant for non payment of child support I didn’t own. They called the court and the court told them that I had a bench warrant for nonpayment child support.
I had to call an attorney to go to the friend of the court office and physically pull the paper file to see the big red stamp that said “DISMISSED”.
A ten year old citation, yet she was able to license her car and herself during that period.
This is the lack of common sense and disregard that ticks me off. A reasonable LEO might have taken a look a the situation and said, “Miss, you have a bench warrant out for your arrest from 10 year ago for a speeding ticket. Here is my card, I want you to come down to the station tomorrow, so we can determine what’s going on with that.”
We have real crime, and we let illegal aliens run amok, do we really need to throw people in jail for this? Was she a flight risk?
I disagree. If cops faced real consequences for behaving like schmucks, then they would be more circumspect about jailing somebody over an 11 year old speeding ticket.
Typically if you show up, don’t fight the ticket, and pay the fine they will reduce a speeding in excess of 10 mph to speeding less than 10 mph.
You get a lesser fine and fewer points while the court gets an easy fine and no jury trial.
If a bench warrant was issued...it has to be served...not the deputy’s fault if the warrant was issued by mistake..sue the court...good luck with that. I am suprised however that she was held for two days...again...not the deputy’s fault
If the above facts are true...the sheriff owes her not I g...the court however...
I seriously doubt she was a flight risk.
And I am equally sure there are all sorts of "teens" and aspiring rappers that deserve the same level attention given to this gal.
Good thing the courts in your world don’t have to face any consequences of their screw ups.
Unfortunately you seem to want it that way.
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