From [HERE] A Black man who was wrongfully arrested by white cops and held for 15 days in jail was improperly awarded $3.5 million in damages against his arresting officer, the Sixth Circuit ruled, finding that he “sued the wrong man.” The arresting officer couldn’t predict how other officers and jailers would fail to discover the man’s true identity. 

The circuit judges MERRITT, SUHRHEINRICH, and SUTTON [all white & pictured above] decided the case. According to their order:

Police officers meant to arrest Roderick Siner, who goes by the alias Marvin Seals. They arrested Marvin Seales instead. Fifteen days later, the State realized the mistake and released Seales. Seales sued Thomas Zberkot (the police officer who arrested him), the City of Detroit (which held him for the first two days), and Wayne County (which held him in jail for about thirteen days after that). By the time of trial, only Officer Zberkot remained in the case, and the jury awarded Seales $3.5 million for wrongful detention under federal and state law. Because Officer Zberkot handled the case for fewer than three hours and because our prior decision in this case held as a matter of law that there was probable cause to arrest Seales given the similarities between him and Seals, we must reverse. [MORE]