Jacqueline Alcita Smith, the spouse of a Navy sailor, was jailed for days after she was wrongfully arrested throughout a site visitors cease in Virginia Seaside on February 16. Per WAVY.com, Smith, who was along with her new child child boy when Virginia Seaside police officer Okay. Brewer arrested her, was making preparations for her household to maneuver to a unique army base on the time of the incident.
“Everybody cleared their schedules to make time to come back that weekend and as a substitute [of us moving], they have been preventing for my freedom,” the mom of two mentioned. And apart from making claims of being “manhandled” by on-base police, Smith, who can also be a enterprise proprietor and medical skilled, mentioned the way of her arrest resulted in her struggling bleeding near her postpartum incisions.
“I simply can’t even think about how [it] went from a site visitors cease to this,” the 33-year-old mentioned. “All I saved saying out loud was, ‘Is that this the way you deal with a service member’s spouse? Is that this the way you’re treating a brand new mom?’”
Smith following her arrest was held on the Virginia Seaside Correctional Heart. Her arrest and detention reportedly stemmed from a reputation mix-up as she was wrongly booked below the title, Jacqueline Renee Smith.
“The entire ordeal was actually a nightmare. Each mistaken flip that might have been taken, was taken,” she instructed WAVY.com. “Three totally different companies failed me. The Navy Police, the Virginia Seaside Police Division and the Virginia Seaside Sheriff’s Workplace. Every one had a possibility to function in good religion, establish me and use the programs they’d in place. As an alternative, they have been selecting and selecting when to make use of my right title.”
Smith additionally mentioned authorities fingerprinted her and “took mugshots of me below this particular person’s title.” It took two days for Smith’s husband to clear up the error, although she remained in custody throughout that interval.
“The precise course of was so humiliating, so degrading to must strip bare, to must unfold and cough, all whereas I’m experiencing a medical emergency,” Smith mentioned.
Smith was later taken to a hospital to obtain therapy for her bleeding, however she claimed the well being officers on the facility went towards Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Following the hospital go to, Smith was taken again to the Virginia Seaside Correctional Heart the place she was held within the detox unit. She instructed the information outlet that authorities instructed her that was commonplace protocol.
“The one those who confirmed me compassion have been the opposite girls within the detox tank,” Smith mentioned.
The suspect mistaken for Smith is needed for aggravated assault in Baltimore County, per WAVY.com. “Now the identities have been blurred, that’s what’s so regarding to me,” Smith mentioned. “I’m a medical skilled right here within the 757. I’ve clinicals developing like they run background checks. What does this imply for me? What does this imply for housing, if I am going apply for a home?”
Paperwork point out that the Virginia Seaside Police Division “started to have issues of [the] id” within the wake of Smith’s arrest. A VBPD lieutenant additionally seen the fingerprints have been inaccurate earlier than she was in the end launched on a $5 bond.
“That was the extent of their sorry,” Smith, who’s now preventing to have her title expunged from that case, mentioned. She additionally expressed her disappointment with having to undergo the authorized course of to clear her title.
“I’ve been doing my very own footwork, contacting the ACLU [and] totally different criticism traces,” the 33-year-old Smith mentioned. “I’m simply extra so involved for my skilled profession.”
The VBPD in an announcement mentioned they’ve opened an investigation into her case. “We’re conscious of the issues levied by [Mrs.] Smith and have opened up an inside investigation into the incident to evaluate the actions of the responding officer,” the assertion mentioned.
