Posted on 01/30/2004 5:11:08 PM PST by hotpotato
Eight months after he was locked up when three girls accused him of attacking them in a park, a homeless man was freed after the girls admitted making up the story so one of them wouldn't be punished for being late to school.
Eric Nordmark, 36, a self-described nomad who hitchhikes around the country, had stopped in Orange County last spring when the three 11-year-olds told police they were stalked and attacked by a transient in Woodbury Park in Garden Grove. Nordmark was jailed on assault and child molestation charges.
On Monday, one of Nordmark's accusers admitted she and her friends made up the story to cover for her tardiness at school. The charges were dropped and Nordmark was released from jail that night.
A spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office said the girls would be referred to juvenile court.
The spokeswoman, Susan Kang Schroeder, said Wednesday the district attorney went forward with the charges because "based upon what we had, we had no reason to think it wasn't true."
Garden Grove police said they may have erred in showing all three the same lineup of suspect photos, inadvertently helping them conspire to identify the same person.
Nordmark called his incarceration a "very terrifying experience."
"My civil rights were severely trashed. How could this happen if I didn't do this?" he said.
Nordmark said he hadn't decided if he would sue the girls or the city, but indicated he didn't hold a grudge against the girls.
"(The girls) probably didn't think this would be a big issue," Nordmark said. "It turned into a big issue. There were real lives at stake."
This is a major violation of proper police procedure. The homeless guy just won a home in the coming negligance case.
That's just silly and bears no relation to the story at hand.
Or... based on the evidence, I can't prove you didn't do the crime. So I'll indite.
It's not up to the police to *prove* someone didn't commit a crime but it is up to the police to prove that they did when accused of a crime. These police were convinced by the evidence and testimony presented, that a crime was committed.
Three eleven-year-old girls went to the police and claimed they were attacked and showed evidence of having been attacked (cuts, scrapes, bruises). The above story does not provide all the details (more was provided in TV coverage). The girls picked out the "perp" in a photo lineup. The police erred (and have admitted to that err) in showing the three girls the photo line-up at the same time. Said "perp" was arrested. It's their word against a homeless man. So... "based upon what we had, we had no reason to think it wasn't true" is not out of line. The police did not suspect the girls were lying. No one did. That three little girls would collude and lie about such a story is what makes it so shocking.
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