mistaken identity

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Police Admit Telling Wrong Family Their Son Was Dead

UK police's 'drastic' identification error was realized weeks later when another boy woke from coma

(Newser) - British parents planning a funeral for their 17-year-old son, who police said died in a car crash weeks earlier, suddenly learned he was, in fact, alive. South Yorkshire Police mistakenly believed Trevor "TJ" Wynn had died in the Dec. 13 car crash near Rotherham alongside a 17-year-old girl, and...

Tourist's Vacation Kicks Off With Month in Italian Prison

Romanian man was mistaken for convicted thief with the same name

(Newser) - A Romanian tourist's dream vacation in Italy turned into a disaster at his very first breakfast: He was mistaken for a fugitive, arrested, and locked in prison. The man identified as Ovidiu A. was taken into custody at his hotel in Caorle, near Venice, on Aug. 24 because...

Fury Over CEO's Hat-Grab Directed at Wrong CEO

Social media mix-up targets a different Polish paving business after viral video

(Newser) - A Polish business owner woke up to a storm of digital outrage over a viral moment at the US Open—except he wasn't even there. Roman Szkaradek, who runs Drog-Bruk (with a hyphen) in Zgorzelec, Poland, found himself on the receiving end of angry messages and one-star reviews...

Man in Prison for 31 Years Finds Savior in Novice Attorney

Natlie Figgers, out of law school just 2 years, helps free wrongly convicted Thomas Raynard James

(Newser) - It started with a murder in Miami, a crime that sent Thomas Raynard James to prison for more than three decades. In April, however, a judge vacated James' conviction and set him free, thanks to the efforts of an attorney just two years out of law school who was determined...

Lawsuit: Calif. Woman Held for 13 Days After Case of Mistaken Identity

Bethany Farber was stopped at LAX because she had same name as wanted woman

(Newser) - California woman Bethany Farber is suing the Los Angeles Police Department, saying they wrongfully detained her for 13 days—including three days after they allegedly realized they had the wrong Bethany Farber. The 30-year-old aesthetician says her nightmarish experience began in April last year, when she was detained at Los...

$500K Lawsuit Claims Cops Arrested Wrong Shane Brown

Shane Lee Brown says he spent 6 days in jail after being mistaken as a wanted felon

(Newser) - A young Black man is suing two police departments in Nevada after he says he spent six days in jail—simply for having nearly the same name as a wanted felon, who is white and twice his age. Shane Lee Brown, a 25-year-old with dark hair, says police were actually...

Man Sues After Being Locked In Mental Hospital by Mistake

Man who was homeless in Hawaii was arrested for someone else's warrant

(Newser) - A formerly homeless man who ended up in a mental institution for more than two years because of mistaken identity is suing the state and various Honolulu police officers, Hawaii public defenders, and doctors. Joshua Spriestersbach's attorneys say in a lawsuit filed Sunday in US District Court in Honolulu...

He Didn't Take Cleo Smith, Is Suing Station That Said He Did
A TV Station Ran His Photo,
With 'Devastating' Effects
in case you missed it
Nov 21, 2021 9:30 AM CST

A TV Station Ran His Photo, With 'Devastating' Effects

Terrance Flowers didn't take Cleo Smith, but Seven indicated he was the suspect

(Newser) - It's a case of mistaken identity that has led a man to sue. The alleged abduction of 4-year-old Cleo Smith gripped Australia, as did her rescue . Terence Kelly was charged with taking the child, but as the BBC explains, one of Australia's leading news channels ran photos of...

Mafia Boss Look-Alike Seized at Gunpoint, Thrown in Prison

Attorney blames Italian authorities for mix-up in the Hague

(Newser) - An Englishman who traveled to the Netherlands to take in a Formula One race got more excitement than he bargained for when he was mistaken for an Italian Mafia boss, wanted for more than 50 murders. The 54-year-old, identified by his attorney as Mark L., was seized at gunpoint by...

Lookalike Inmate Mistakenly Released From Jail

Search is on for Ellen Goble in Randolph County, Mo.

(Newser) - Authorities in Missouri are searching for a woman who was mistaken for another inmate and wrongly released from jail over the weekend. Ellen Goble—who was held in Randolph County Jail on charges of resisting arrest, burglary, drug possession, and operating a vehicle without a valid license—looked almost identical...

Mistaken Identity Lands Man in Mental Hospital for 2 Years

Joshua Spriestersbach protested that he wasn't Thomas Castleberry, to no avail

(Newser) - Hawaii officials wrongly arrested a homeless man for a crime committed by someone else, locked him up in a state hospital for two years and eight months, forced him to take psychiatric drugs, and then tried to cover up the mistake by quietly setting him free with just 50 cents...

Cops: Family Out for Revenge Killed the Wrong Man

4 are charged in Texas with the murder of Eddie Clark after a car chase

(Newser) - Police in Texas say four members of one family murdered an innocent man in a case of mistaken identity. The four were on the lookout for someone who had been vandalizing their property, and investigators say they chased the wrong man in their Houston-area neighborhood, reports KTRK . Those accused are...

Cops Mistakenly Kill Man in His Own Yard

Investigation underway after 'devastatingly tragic' shooting in Idaho Falls

(Newser) - Idaho police killed a man in his own backyard on Monday after mistaking him for a suspect on the run. The man police had been chasing, with warrants for felony battery on an officer and failure to appear, was found hiding in a shed on a nearby property in Idaho...

'It Did Not Add Up,' and 15 Years Later, He's Free

Joseph Webster's murder conviction overturned

(Newser) - A Tennessee man has been reunited with family after serving almost 15 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Joseph Webster's attorney, Daniel Horwitz, has spent the past four years reinvestigating the 1998 slaying of Leroy Owens and shared his findings with WZTV . "We interviewed...

They Thought He Was Dead. Then He Showed Up at a Party

2 families suing Chicago PD, hospital after one family took wrong man off life support

(Newser) - The grief-stricken family of Alfonso Bennett was planning his funeral after taking him off life support—until he showed up at a party. ABC News reports on the story out of Chicago that now has two families suing the city's police department and Mercy Hospital for a tragic case...

A Woman Took Her 'Brother' Off Life Support. It Wasn't Him
A Woman Took
Her 'Brother' Off
Life Support.
It Wasn't Him
in case you missed it
Feb 2, 2019 2:06 PM CST

A Woman Took Her 'Brother' Off Life Support. It Wasn't Him

Shirell Powell is suing Bronx hospital after case of mistaken identity

(Newser) - It's hard enough making the painful decision to take a loved one off of life support, but Shirell Powell is facing the unimaginable reality of having taken a stranger off of it. The case of mistaken identity led to her thinking it was her brother, who she didn't...

Man Arrested, Given Drugs Over Mistaken Identity: Suit

'The experience that I went through, this should never happen to anybody'

(Newser) - A 63-year-old Pennsylvania man is suing for false imprisonment, negligence, assault, and more after he says he was arrested and injected with drugs because neither police nor a hospital bothered to check his identity, the BBC reports. Eugene Wright filed suit Wednesday. The lawsuit—as per the Meadville Tribune —...

NFL Player Wrongly ID'd as Shoplifter, Cut From Team

Lucky Whitehead says he was 'blindsided,' then cut from Dallas Cowboys

(Newser) - "Lucky" Whitehead's first name hasn't proved prescient lately, though he doesn't bear any fault in the most recent matter. Whitehead (whose real first name is Rodney, per NBC News ), who used to be a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, was cut from the team...

Father Discovers Son Alive 11 Days After Burying Him

'When somebody tells me my son is dead ... I believe them'

(Newser) - Eleven days after laying his son to rest, Frank Kerrigan got a call from a friend, the AP reports. "Your son is alive," he said. According to the Orange County Register , Orange County coroner's officials in California had misidentified the body. The mix-up began on May 6...

It Felt Like Identity Theft, but Turned Out to Be Far From It

For years Lisa Davis was sure she was the victim of identity theft

(Newser) - Lisa Selin Davis has spent nearly 20 years paying someone else's fines—issued to a New Yorker with the same name and birthday who was being cited for all sorts of things she herself never had done, small infractions like using her phone behind the wheel and walking in...

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