In Georgia, people can be held responsible for false imprisonment if they get police to arrest someone who did nothing wrong.
A former DeKalb County commissioner learned that costly lesson Monday in federal appeals court when judges sided with two women who are seeking $100,000 in damages and legal costs.
The story almost writes itself.
“This appeal is about a man who lost his wallet and, shortly after, his solvency. We begin with the wallet. We then turn to his bankruptcy,” starts the opinion of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. It continues: “On July 12, 2012, Stanley Watson, a DeKalb County commissioner, entered the Tanqueray Lounge in Decatur, Georgia, and saw Shenekka Bradsher sitting at the bar.”
Things went downhill quickly.
He bought her drinks and asked her to go home with him. She felt insulted and called him “big” and “greasy.”
When Watson couldn’t find his wallet, he accused her and her friend Zarinah Ali of stealing it.
He then got an off-duty police sergeant who was providing security to arrest Bradsher, the opinion says. Watson, whom the opinion says was “intoxicated,” “belligerent,” and “irate,” then briefly drove away despite the officer’s concerns about his condition. Watson returned, then a lieutenant arrived and called a major who told the lieutenant to tell the sergeant to let someone take Watson home. Watson wanted them to arrest Ali, and they told her to remain on the scene.
The sergeant wrote in his incident report that “circumstances beyond his control” prevented his arresting Watson, adding that he did not “feel right” arresting Bradsher, whom he released with a warning.
A video of the incident shows Watson threatening to call the police chief and threatening the bar with the loss of its food certification.
The next day, Watson found his wallet in his car.
The women sued, Watson filed for bankruptcy, the case got hearings in bankruptcy court and district court, then made its way to the appeals court.
The appeals court concluded that the bankruptcy court did not err in finding Watson had “willfully and maliciously” caused the confinement of the women.
The women also received a judgement against Watson for slander, but the bankruptcy court determined that Watson didn’t have to pay that $50,000. However, he remains liable for the $100,000 stemming from false imprisonment.
The moral of this story: it’s safe to relay facts to an officer and share an opinion that a person should be arrested. But one may be held liable for false imprisonment if one “actively instigates or procures” an arrest.
