A woman who was kept in jail for 13 days in a case of mistaken identity is suing the Los Angeles Police Department, claiming the stress of the situation caused her grandmother to die of a stroke.
Bethany K Farber was detained by police at Los Angeles International Airport while on her way to visit family in Mexico last April, with officers telling her there was a warrant out for her arrest in Texas.
Despite her attempts to convince officers that they had the wrong person, Farber was arrested by LAPD on a no-bail, state-wide fugitive arrest warrant, and following a brief court appearance ended up being sent to a women's prison, where she would spend the next 13 days in a cell with '14 violent criminals'.
'I kept saying that they had the wrong person and to double-check, and they just said, yep, no we have it,' she told local tv station KTLA-TV. 'Immediately all I could think is I’ve never been to Texas… I started to get upset, realising that it was all actually happening.'
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Farber described the experience as 'absolutely terrifying,' saying, 'I was shocked, it just kept getting worse.'
Incredibly, in spite of Farber repeatedly telling officers that she was not the right person, and had never set foot in Texas, her lawyer says the LAPD did not match her driver's license, social security number or even her birth date against the details on file for the Bethany Farber wanted under the warrant, and didn't even compare her booking photo against that of the other woman.
If they had, they would have realised that the two women had completely different appearances, with the woman who was actually on the run from police having short, dark hair, compared to Farber's long blonde hair.
'Instead of taking simple actions to verify that she was not the same Bethany that had an outstanding warrant in the state of Texas, [she] was accused of trying to flee the country,' her lawyer said in a statement.
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'She was held without bail, with her rights taken away, while she was bullied and forced to remain silent.'
Following the traumatic incident, Farber has filed a lawsuit against the LAPD, alleging that their actions have caused her to suffer from anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.
Representatives for Farber also told the The Independent that the stress of the incident caused her grandmother, Donna Emma Jaynes, to suffer a stroke that would ultimately see her pass her away before Farber was released from prison.
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The LAPD has not commented on the lawsuit.
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Topics: US News
Hannah Smith