Black Man with No Criminal Record Sues Two Police Departments In Las Vegas After Mistaking Him for a White Man Over 20 Years His Senior with a Warrant

[Drowning Man]

Black Man with No Criminal Record Sues Two Police Departments In Las Vegas After Mistaking Him for a White Man Over 20 Years His Senior with a Warrant: ‘Mistake of That Magnitude’​

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) and its sister department are being sued by a Black man that spent almost a week in jail for a crime he didn’t commit.

The officers arrested him in 2020 because he shared the same name with a white man, who was the actual suspect for the crime.

According to the lawsuit filed on Jan. 7, 2022, and obtained by the Atlanta Black Star, in 2020, Shane Lee Brown was incarcerated for six days at the Henderson Detention Center and then the Clark County Detention Center after law enforcement officers from two different police departments mixed him up with another man.

The man filing the suit is 23 years old, 5 feet 7, and Black. The actual man listed on the arrest warrant was 49 years old, 5 feet 11, and a white man with a “bushy white beard” and blue eyes. The arresting officers failed to properly verify the person listed on the warrant.

On Jan. 8, 2020, the lawsuit states, Shane Lee Brown was driving from work when he was “pulled over by one or more unknown Henderson City Police Officers.” He didn’t have his driver’s license on him, so he gave them his name, social security number, and social security card.

The officer ran the name and when he saw the same first and surname pop up with a warrant, he assumed it was the man waiting in the car they pulled over.

However, if he had read the warrant, he would have seen the description of the man with an outstanding felony bench warrant for the illegal ownership or possession of a firearm. The subject of the warrant was Shane Neil Brown, a man whose first conviction was in 1994, two years before the plaintiff was born.

Despite this, Shane Lee Brown was arrested and placed in Henderson Detention Center (HDC) from Jan. 8 to Jan. 10, and then transferred by the LVMPD to the Clark County Detention Center (CCDC), where he stayed until Jan. 14.

Shane Lee Brown communicated over and over again that they had the wrong man, but to no avail.

The lawsuit, prepared by attorney Brent Bryson, noted, “Despite being informed of this mistaken identity, none of the unknown LVMPD or LVMPD corrections officers bothered to review its own records to determine whether that Shane Lee Brown was the subject of the warrant.”

“Had any of the LVMPD police or corrections officers performed any due diligence, such as comparing Shane Lee Brown’s booking photo against the existing mug shot belonging to the older, white ‘Shane Brown’ named in the warrant, comparing his fingerprints, birth date, ID No., or physical description, they could have easily determined that Shane Lee Brown was misidentified as the subject of the warrant,” it continued.

A bench warrant return hearing presided over by Judge Joe Hardy was held on Jan. 14. Shane Lee Brown was appointed a public defender named Shannon L. Phenix and she shared the same information with the court that her client had been telling the officers since before his arrest.

In a dramatic demonstration, she compared a mug shot filed online of the white man to the one her client took, just days ago. She also compared the identification numbers of both men, something that none of the officers had done.

The judge immediately released Shane Lee Brown.

Idiots. I hope the guy is rightfully compensated.

 

[Mycroft]

Idiots. I hope the guy is rightfully compensated.

I think he will be.

 

[aociswundumho]

The man filing the suit is 23 years old, 5 feet 7, and Black. The actual man listed on the arrest warrant was 49 years old, 5 feet 11, and a white man with a “bushy white beard” and blue eyes. The arresting officers failed to properly verify the person listed on the warrant.

The officers probably don't have the mental capacity necessary to make such fine distinctions.

 

[Integrityrespec]

I think he will be.

I see this getting settled outside of the court because the evidence appears to be in the plaintiffs favor. Looks like shoddy police work but I imagine being overworked and understaffed likely contributed to it. So the answer, defund the police. Just another reason for more police to properly do the job.

 

[bongsaway]

Idiots. I hope the guy is rightfully compensated.

I'll be nice and call them lazy cops who didn't do their job.

 

[bongsaway]

I see this getting settled outside of the court because the evidence appears to be in the plaintiffs favor. Looks like shoddy police work but I imagine being overworked and understaffed likely contributed to it. So the answer, defund the police. Just another reason for more police to properly do the job.

Hospitals, doctors and nurses are being overwhelmed by covid. I have an idea to help, let's fight all vaccine suggestions and fight for no mask wearing anywhere. Make sense to you?

 

[Deuce]

And they wonder why we want radical police reform

 

[Binary_Digit]

In the U.S. we train people for six months and then give them a gun and a badge. German police academy lasts 2.5 years. I think we could learn something from that. The police don't need less funding, they need more so they can train & pay better while rejecting more rejects.

 

[Peter]

In the U.S. we train people for six months and then give them a gun and a badge. German police academy lasts 2.5 years. I think we could learn something from that. The police don't need less funding, they need more so they can train & pay better while rejecting more rejects.

There are countless videos of people interacting with the police and the police don't know the law.
The police then get angry at the person who does know the law and simply lets them know it's pretty tragic really.

The law about being able to film the police in public is a good example and was one of the reasons for the start of the police audit movement.

 

[Binary_Digit]

There are countless videos of people interacting with the police and the police don't know the law.
The police then get angry at the person who does know the law and simply lets them know it's pretty tragic really.

The law about being able to film the police in public is a good example and was one of the reasons for the start of the police audit movement.

I am quite unhappy with a great many things in our criminal justice system here in the U.S., not the least of which is how we do policing. A lot of the stupid stems directly from the stupid War on Citizens...I mean Drugs.

 

[Bodi]

Idiots. I hope the guy is rightfully compensated.

I need to find some criminals with my name, go to that city and get falsely arrested. Makes some cash.

 

[Bodi]

There are countless videos of people interacting with the police and the police don't know the law.
The police then get angry at the person who does know the law and simply lets them know it's pretty tragic really.

The law about being able to film the police in public is a good example and was one of the reasons for the start of the police audit movement.

The ridiculous part is that the countless videos are all pretty much the same thing... don't need to ID unless suspected of committing or getting ready to commit a crime. Being in public, photographing in public, filming the cops, etc ARE NOT CRIMES. Suspicious person call in is not a crime. They do not NEED to ID you... they WANT to ID you. What is wrong with the Police Chiefs for not getting into morning briefing and warning his cops that if they do anything that stupid they will be fired.

 

[Luce]

This literally happens all the time.

I mean, getting the wrong guy. I don't mean being dumb enough to keep going.

 

[What if...?]

I see this getting settled outside of the court because the evidence appears to be in the plaintiffs favor. Looks like shoddy police work but I imagine being overworked and understaffed likely contributed to it. So the answer, defund the police. Just another reason for more police to properly do the job.

Or hire a couple that aren’t incompetent assholes.

 

[Cardinal]

Idiots. I hope the guy is rightfully compensated.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

I am quite unhappy with a great many things in our criminal justice system here in the U.S., not the least of which is how we do policing. A lot of the stupid stems directly from the stupid War on Citizens...I mean Drugs.

Lol here’s the left insisting that society should be destroyed by drug pushers and they should face no consequences

 

[EMNofSeattle]

So the major scandal is someone was arrested because their name matched an arrest warrant? And what was the damages? That he spent a few days in jail and was released with no charges? This is not a scandal. It’s called a good faith error.

 

[Drowning Man]

So the major scandal is someone was arrested because their name matched an arrest warrant? And what was the damages? That he spent a few days in jail and was released with no charges? This is not a scandal. It’s called a good faith error.

Heh…the name didn’t even match (different middle name). Nor did the description match. Nor the photo.

He spent over a week in jail because of blatant incompetence.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

In the U.S. we train people for six months and then give them a gun and a badge.

Not really true. May be true in some cases/areas but many departments may require college degree, psych evals, additional screenings like drug and background checks.

 

[SkyFox76]

So the major scandal is someone was arrested because their name matched an arrest warrant? And what was the damages? That he spent a few days in jail and was released with no charges? This is not a scandal. It’s called a good faith error.

Uh no. A good faith error might fall under them arresting him and once they got to the jail they realized their mistake. Warrant=white guy, arrested man is black. Apologize, set the guy loose and sideline the officers who failed to properly identify they had the wrong man. We don't know the situation of the arrested guy other than he was coming home from work. So how many days work did he miss, and how much pay? Sorry, but police are suppose to be better.

 

[EMNofSeattle]

Uh no. A good faith error might fall under them arresting him and once they got to the jail they realized their mistake. Warrant=white guy, arrested man is black. Apologize, set the guy loose and sideline the officers who failed to properly identify they had the wrong man. We don't know the situation of the arrested guy other than he was coming home from work. So how many days work did he miss, and how much pay? Sorry, but police are suppose to be better.

Six days of pay is easily compensated. I doubt the issue is 6 days of pay.

They have had the wrong man, but that’s not a really big dead because the error was detected and he was released.

 

[SkyFox76]

Six days of pay is easily compensated. I doubt the issue is 6 days of pay.

They have had the wrong man, but that’s not a really big dead because the error was detected and he was released.

The lost pay was just an honorable mention. The man had repeatedly been telling them they were in error and I'm sorry but he was locked up for 6 DAYS. Not 6 hours. Not even 24 hours. How incompetent does a police force have to be to not at least go take a peek at the file of the guy that they supposedly had in custody? I mean c'mon. That's just lazy. And idk, I'm not familiar with being in jail but this guy had zero criminal past and all off a sudden he locked up in a jail with the cops ignoring his pleas?

Are we seriously at a place where police don't even need to make a positive ID before booking somebody, because meh....the innocent person eventually got released.

 

[Court Jester]

Something seems to missing in this story. Why didn't the Black guy have sufficient ID to show he was not the person indicated on the warrant? I might understand somebody being arrested or detained for a short time. But at booking they take fingerprints, take photos, and after you have the right to a lawyer. Why didn't the Black guy's lawyer intervene for him?

Lots of missing parts in this story for some reason. If it were that easy to arrest the wrong person based on a name, then there would be multiple Richard Smiths, Fred Jones, Javier Rodriguezes--- or any name which haa as many as 50 same names in any phone book.

 

[pocket aces]

Lol here’s the left insisting that society should be destroyed by drug pushers and they should face no consequences

So you are the only one that gets to do drugs?

 

[EMNofSeattle]

The lost pay was just an honorable mention. The man had repeatedly been telling them they were in error and I'm sorry but he was locked up for 6 DAYS. Not 6 hours. Not even 24 hours. How incompetent does a police force have to be to not at least go take a peek at the file of the guy that they supposedly had in custody? I mean c'mon. That's just lazy. And idk, I'm not familiar with being in jail but this guy had zero criminal past and all off a sudden he locked up in a jail with the cops ignoring his pleas?

Are we seriously at a place where police don't even need to make a positive ID before booking somebody, because meh....the innocent person eventually got released.

Yeah everyone in jail didn’t do it, they’re all innocent, just being hassled. It’s really amazing because if you poll people in jail you quickly find out that somehow 100% of the jail population is innocent and the cops are ignoring their pleas.

Give me a break. That’s not an argument. If you’re ever arrested don’t even bother being a whiny female dog over how innocent you are, just get a lawyer.

You don’t even know what the police knew about the warrant or how much evidence was included.