Reported by: Bailey Miller
The more I see, the more I shake my head in disgust at what we have become.
"I told him, 'I will release my son to you upon viewing those orders.' Those were exactly my words," The complainant said. "He said, 'This is how you want to play?' He took two steps back, turned around to the officer and said, 'Take her.' They turned me around, handcuffed me, and took me in."
"I told him, 'I will release my son to you upon viewing those orders.' Those were exactly my words," The complainant said. "He said, 'This is how you want to play?' He took two steps back, turned around to the officer and said, 'Take her.' They turned me around, handcuffed me, and took me in."
Slaton police arrest woman after request to see warrant..
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Slaton police came to this woman's house, who wishes to remain
anonymous, to arrest her son. But by asking one simple question, she
found herself behind bars instead.
"I told him, 'I
will release my son to you upon viewing those orders.' Those were
exactly my words," The complainant said. "He said, 'This is how you want
to play?' He took two steps back, turned around to the officer and
said, 'Take her.' They turned me around, handcuffed me, and took me in."
The
complainant said she was aware police would be coming to apprehend her
11-year-old son based on a criminal complaint, and that she just wanted
to see the warrant. As it turns out, that warrant didn't exist. She
spent the night in jail while her son was left at home.
"He
told me it was their duty to come pick up my son," She said. "Yet, I
had someone stay the night at my house. They never came back that
evening, they never came to pick up my son, or do what they told me they
were there to do in the beginning."
"This occurred on
May 29 when they went out to apprehend this young man," Dwight
McDonald, the family's attorney, said. "The directive to apprehend was
not signed until May 30, which is another indication that they didn't
have the authority to go out and arrest him or apprehend this young
man."
The Slaton Police Department is willing to issue an apology, but McDonald said that's not enough.
"If
she moves out of Slaton and tries to find a job elsewhere, you can
Google her name, and at that point, the arrest, my guess is, is going to
show up," McDonald said.
"I will accept an apology,
but what is that going to do?" The complainant said. "It's not going to
take my picture off the internet sites that have been posted, from being
published in the newspaper, from where I work. I've never been in
trouble, in 32 years of my life, from anything, and to get thrown in
jail because I asked a question is not right."
McDonald
said the Slaton Police Department will issue an apology as long as the
mother agrees not to file a lawsuit. He said unless she is compensated
for her expenses and the trauma she's been through, a lawsuit won't be
out of the question.
We attempted to contact Slaton's
city attorney and city manager. Due to the possibility of litigation,
both declined to comment.
