State faces $35M lawsuit after Police arrested and jailed wrong man

A mini-bus operator who was arrested and jailed after being mistaken for another man, has filed a $35 million lawsuit against the state.

The mini-bus operator, Richard Rodney, in his complaint said he was unlawfully arrested and jailed on the 4th October 2023. He spent four days in jail before the Prison Service figured out that it was the wrong man that the Police had arrested and handed over to the Prison.

Rodney said he was driving his mini-bus when he was stopped at a road block along the East Coast Public Road. He said at the road block, he was told to get out of his vehicle and was arrested on an outstanding warrant that had been issued by the Court for damage to property.

Rodney said although he repeatedly protested his arrest and complained that he knows nothing of the matter and had no Court case or charges against him, the Police insisted that he was the wanted man and proceeded to keep him in custody, before eventually taking him back to Court and later handing him over to the Prison Authorities.

The driver found himself in the Lusignan Prison facing a six-month sentence for a crime he knew nothing about. He said it was a Prison Officer who decided to investigate his claims that he was wrongfully arrested and mistaken for someone else.

The Prison Officer discovered that the Police had in fact arrested and jailed the wrong man, after making contact with the person who had filed the charge for damage to property.

The complainant confirmed that the man in jail was not the man who damaged their property.

The Police eventually made contact with the right person who was involved in the case, and after taking both men back to Court, simply released the bus driver, Richard Rodney from custody, as if nothing had happened.

Rodney is being represented by the Dexter Todd Law Firm.

The Law Firm in a statement said a mere phone call to the virtual complainant in the matter or verification of the information provided by Mr. Rodney would have been sufficient to prove that he was not the person who was sentenced to prison by the Court.

TheLaw Firm said the driver remains traumatized by his arrest and the time he spent in jail. He is seeking compensation in excess of thirty five million dollars ($35,000,000) for his unlawful arrest, detention and imprisonment without any proper investigation or logical cause.