MIAMI—On Wednesday, United States District Court Judge Melissa Damian ruled a Texas woman’s lawsuit against the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and several deputies of the department for a 2022 mistaken identity arrest can move forward. Judge Damian denied the county’s motion to dismiss the case brought by Jennifer Heath Box and her attorneys from the Institute for Justice (IJ), meaning Jennifer’s case can move forward.
In the opinion, Judge Damian wrote that it violates the Fourth Amendment to put the wrong person in jail when there are “observable differences between the individual and the person described in the warrant and there was plenty of time for officers to verify the identity of the person being arrested but the officers ignored red flags and arrested the person anyways.”
The court also ruled that the deputies are not entitled to qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that shields government officials from being held liable when they violate someone’s rights unless that right is “clearly established.”
“This Court finds that Eleventh Circuit case law provides several materially similar decisions that would provide the Deputies a fair warning that their conduct was unlawful,” the opinion reads.
Jennifer was arrested getting off a cruise ship in Port Everglades following a family trip on Christmas Eve 2022, and spent three days in jail, before finally being released. Police had a warrant for a different Jennifer—Jennifer Delcarmen Heath—who was 23 years younger; five inches shorter; and had a different hair color, eye color, skin tone, social security number, and home address. Deputies Peter Peraza, Monica Jean, Jasmine Hines and Anthony Thorpe all at various points overlooked the evidence on the warrant which proved they had the wrong Jennifer, but moved forward with the arrest and detention anyway.
“This whole experience has been traumatizing, so I’m very happy that my lawsuit can move forward and I can finally seek justice for what happened to me,” said Jennifer. “When I was in jail, nobody would listen to me that they had arrested the wrong person, and now it feels like somebody is finally listening.”
“Wednesday’s decision makes it clear that when police overlook obvious evidence that they’re arresting the wrong person, they’ll be held accountable,” said IJ Attorney Jared McClain. “Anyone who looked at Jennifer should have been able to tell she was not the person police wanted.”
Jennifer and IJ filed the lawsuit last September, seeking to hold the officers responsible for her arrest accountable.