Can you sue for false imprisonment if someone incorrectly ID's you and you were jailed?

My boyfriend was arrested when someone in my neighborhood believed he was the person who tried to break into her home. He was jailed for 11 days and there was an article in our local paper with his name and address about the arrest. He is out thousands of dollars. The police have arrested another young man who was caught breaking into home in our area. The fact that he is black and living in a mostly white area is also troubling. He is currently still in the court system waiting for the DA to drop the case due to lack of evidence.





Can we sue the woman who claimed he was the burglar? The police for harrasment of this mother?





Is there any way we can recoup any of his money?Can you sue for false imprisonment if someone incorrectly ID's you and you were jailed?
He can sue anyone he wants to, but to win he would have to prove that the woman knew he wasn't the burglar and filed a false police report anyway.





Beyond that, the woman didn't decide to arrest him, the police did. Even if they were ultimately wrong, if they had legitimate reasons, then there is no basis for action against them. There is no basis for recouping the money unless there is some indication that the police acted in bad faith.





This happens all the time, and it is unfortunate. Good luck.Can you sue for false imprisonment if someone incorrectly ID's you and you were jailed?
It would be extremely difficult at best.
No. It happened to me. Cost me $2500 for a lawyer and the unnecessary time in jail. Great society we live in huh. I moved to Thailand for this reason. Alot less crime so not as many people wrongfully arrested. Their society is not as vindictive.
uh...only if you can prove she was acting in bad faith or malicious intent. If she made an honest mistake, there isn't much you can do.





Ditto the police. They acted on the information they recieved.





Unfortunatly mistakes happen. Thank GOD it didn't go further than it did I guess.
Not really. In order to sue the person who ID'ed him, he'd have to show it was done with malice. In other words, he'd have to show she did it on purpose, knowing he wasn't the guy. If she did it by accident, with no bad intent, she isn't liable.





Police 'harassment' sounds good, but if all they did was pursue the case, there is probably nothing there. That's their job, and as far as they knew, he was the most likely suspect.





It appears they have now found a better suspect (although it's not clear that finding one guy breaking in necessarily clears another for a different crime), and again, that means they are doing their jobs.








Sawadee: moved to Thailand for a better legal system? Good luck with that. I'm especially impressed by the lack of right to a jury trial. That way the government or a defendant only has to suborn one person, the judge.





A lot less crime? Yeah, I guess only being 9th in the world for murders makes a nice place to live. Less robberies, I see, so as long as you don't get shot, you're good to go.





Sorry, no legal system anywhere in the WORLD will prevent accidents. How would you propose we fix this, by NOT arresting anyone until we had iron clad proof? That is a practical impossibility.
If the person testified in good faith believing you bf was the person then no you have no legal recourse. If it was done arbitrarily and maliciously then you have leagal recourse.
Uh no... There is this thing called due diligence. If the officers obtained reasonable information and their information is known to be reasonably accurate and their actions were reasonable, then you're pretty much out of luck. However, you can still sue for lost wages and such but getting rich off of the situation will probably not happen. False imprisonment is not a tort (civil) issue, it is a criminal offense, so who would go to jail for that? I would stick to civil and you may reap some damages but the stress and the million dollar post traumatic stress disorder thing will probably not happen.