Victims of mistaken identity are crying foul over Denver's habit of throwing the wrong people in jail.By Susan Greene
Denver Post Columnist
Article Last Updated: 08/12/2008 08:43:15 AM MDT
An African student, a mom from Sterling, a Latino construction worker, a high school teacher and a disabled garbage man sued the city Monday for "recklessly sloppy police work."
"I know people say they're innocent and sometimes they're not. But sometimes they really, truly are," said Christina FourHorn, who spent five days behind bars and nearly lost her job because of city screw-ups.
Denver police last year paid $18,000 in damages and legal fees for wrongly jailing an Aurora woman after an officer incorrectly identified her as a suspect.
That error didn't stop the city from mistaking FourHorn for a suspect seven years younger and 90 pounds lighter, then accusing the Sterling home-care worker of cheating on her husband.
It didn't stop Denver from booking Metro State biology student Muse Jama under another man's identity, forcing him to answer to the wrong name, holding him for a week without a court appearance and making it impossible for his family to find him in jail.