His Name Alone Led to a Weekend in Lockup

His name is Luis Garcia, and that was enough to make his weekend a nightmare.

The New Yorker was driving his delivery truck on Route 8 in Thomaston on Saturday when it broke down, and police stopped to check on him and the passengers, the Waterbury Republican-American reports.

They also ran the names through their computer system and got a hit. There was an outstanding warrant for Garcia for failure to appear in court for violation of probation.

But he is Luis Liberto Garcia. The warrant was actually for Luis Mendez Garcia, the newspaper reports. The two men look nothing alike and he told police he was not the man they thought he was, but they did not believe him or run his prints, the newspaper reports.

Garcia could not post a $5,000 bond, so he was held in their basement lockup over the weekend and sent to Bantam Court on Monday morning.

“It had happened to him before,” James Longwell, his public defender, told the Republican-American. “He insisted they were making a mistake, but they didn’t believe him. Nobody bothered to run his fingerprints.”

State’s Attorney Devin T. Stilson quickly ordered the release of Garcia after receiving his passport, which proved the wrong man was in custody, the newspaper reports.
 

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