A Georgia honors student was arrested when a clerical error led police to believe he was someone whose driver’s license had been suspended.
Marcus Green, a student at Georgia State University in Atlanta, was pulled over on Monday evening for speeding. He fully expected to receive a speeding ticket, but was arrested instead.
Somehow the officers who arrested Green mistook him for Gerien Marcus, a man whose license was suspended in Macon. Because hey, Gerien is almost the same as Green, and so what if the first and last names were reversed.
The citation issued to Green prior to his arrest clearly shows Green has a different name, age, hometown, and vehicle than Marcus, yet he was still arrested and taken to jail.
Green had this to say about the incident after his father bailed him out of jail:
“You don’t think it’s going to happen to you, that you’re going to end up in a jail cell because of a speeding ticket.”
Mark Green, Marcus’s father, who is also in law enforcement, said he’s glad things didn’t turn out worse:
“This could have went south very easily. With the heightened sensitivity with youth — particularly young black men — the wrong thing he could have said, the wrong action could have created problems.”
The Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) received two records in Green’s case that contained identical driver’s license numbers, but those records were not returned to the court for correction, leading to the arrest of young Marcus Green. A spokesperson for the DDS commented:
“In this case, it was not and incorrect information was applied to Mr. Green’s record.”
So the next time the cops pull you over, keep in mind they may not even believe you’re who you say you are. Based on this incident, they may say you’re a fugitive who has been on the run for years, arrest you, and hold you against your will.
Later, of course, they’ll probably acknowledge their mistake, but don’t expect an apology.
This article was originally published by the same author at LiberalAmerica.org.