Mistaken identity: teen jailed for four days
An 18-year-old man says he was traumatized after being thrown in jail for four days.
West Virginia State University freshman and football receiver Jawon Johnson was arrested after being pulled over by Havre de Grace police for an improper U-turn.
[Police] claim he was wanted on a federal warrant. As the U.S. Marshals Office found out, they had the wrong guy. “I never thought I would be sitting in jail, especially for something I knew for sure I didn’t do,” Johnson said.
But on Saturday night, he put on a different uniform after he says he was pulled over by a Havre de Grace police officer for making an illegal U-turn. He expected to be handed a ticket, but after an hour he was handcuffed and taken to the Harford County Detention Center on a federal warrant.
Johnson told the police officer that the man in the picture was not him, but the officer insisted that it was. Jawon, spelled with an “o” was accused of being Jawan Johnson, a man involved in a burglary case in D.C. Johnson’s fingerprints were eventually ran and his picture sent to prosecutors in D.C. That was when they discovered their mistake.
Johnson was brought to federal court in Baltimore. His fingerprints were run and his picture was sent to prosecutors in D.C. and, of course, they found he was not the Jawan Johnson they were looking for. Johnson has no criminal record. His family plans to seek legal counsel in relation to the incident.
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