Errors result in wrong (Nashville) man being extradited to Maryland

[NashVegas]

Unfuckingbelievable.

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section=9&screen=news&news_id=54021

Metro Police failed to run the fingerprints of a man whose name matched the alias of a wanted sex offender from Maryland, detained him for three weeks over Christmas, then handed him off to Maryland authorities, who realized they had the wrong person as soon as they processed him.

Tommie Lee Simpson, 35, who goes by Tommie Rice, spent Christmas and New Year’s detained in the Metro Jail awaiting extradition to Montgomery County, Md., after being stopped by Vanderbilt University Police on Dec. 15 for having expired temporary tags. He was charged with driving without a license.

...

But while both Tommie Lee Simpson had the same birth month and day, their birth years were different.

Yet neither that nor Simpson’s statement to Metro Police that he had never even been to Maryland – statements which were verified through Aaron – were enough to get Metro Police’s Fugitive Unit to check Simpson’s fingerprints against the those of the wanted Simpson.

...

So the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office checked his prints. That’s when they learned that the Tommie Lee Simpson they had in custody was not the man they wanted.

[LiberalFighter]

1. Where did they receive their training? Keystone Cops Academy?

[qazplm]

2. What I dont understand

is why cant the police just say, you know what, we messed up. Our bad. Not this, well, he wasnt insistent enough for us to actually do our job.

[NashVegas]

3. Fear of Lawsuit?

Which they deserve, in this case.

[Lurking Dem]

4. And Maryland released him to a homeless shelter?

WTF?

[Bombero1956]

5. Maryland was just as bad

What you do is say "sorry you're not our guy" and you buy him a bus ticket or a plane ride home.

[Lurking Dem]

6. No shit.

This whole thing is such a mess.