This is unbelievable.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/11755049.htm
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two state liquor control agents lost one day's pay for handcuffing a parking attendant and putting him in their car after he told them they'd have to pay $5 to park.
Fuad Mohamud, 23, said he approached a car outside a Columbus nightclub to collect the $5 lot fee, not knowing the men inside were liquor control agents. He said the men jumped out, handcuffed him, put him in the car and drove him around for a half-hour before releasing him.
Mohamud told Columbus police he had been kidnapped, but the detective told him the men were law officers making a valid arrest.
The undercover agents charged Mohamud with obstructing official business. They accused him of blowing their cover. The charge was dropped.
"That was a terrible charge," said Ed Duvall Jr., the unit's deputy director. "The gentleman was there doing his job, his lawful job."
However, he said the agents thought they were making a valid arrest and their union would protect them from more serious discipline. So, Duvall said, he approved an internal charge saying the agents filed a sloppy police report that led authorities to dismiss the case.
They also were disciplined for improperly transporting a prisoner because neither one sat with Mohamud in the back seat. One of the agents has since left for another job.
Mohamud said he was terrified. He is a Somali immigrant who has lived in Columbus for 7 years. He had no one who could bail him out of jail, he said.
"They told me, You're going to stay in jail like a week or two weeks."
Columbus police have ended their investigation because the agents didn't show criminal intent, spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said.
"This might be a civil case or civil rights case that Mohamud could explore. But until we're called in, we wouldn't do anything else," he said.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/11755049.htm
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two state liquor control agents lost one day's pay for handcuffing a parking attendant and putting him in their car after he told them they'd have to pay $5 to park.
Fuad Mohamud, 23, said he approached a car outside a Columbus nightclub to collect the $5 lot fee, not knowing the men inside were liquor control agents. He said the men jumped out, handcuffed him, put him in the car and drove him around for a half-hour before releasing him.
Mohamud told Columbus police he had been kidnapped, but the detective told him the men were law officers making a valid arrest.
The undercover agents charged Mohamud with obstructing official business. They accused him of blowing their cover. The charge was dropped.
"That was a terrible charge," said Ed Duvall Jr., the unit's deputy director. "The gentleman was there doing his job, his lawful job."
However, he said the agents thought they were making a valid arrest and their union would protect them from more serious discipline. So, Duvall said, he approved an internal charge saying the agents filed a sloppy police report that led authorities to dismiss the case.
They also were disciplined for improperly transporting a prisoner because neither one sat with Mohamud in the back seat. One of the agents has since left for another job.
Mohamud said he was terrified. He is a Somali immigrant who has lived in Columbus for 7 years. He had no one who could bail him out of jail, he said.
"They told me, You're going to stay in jail like a week or two weeks."
Columbus police have ended their investigation because the agents didn't show criminal intent, spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said.
"This might be a civil case or civil rights case that Mohamud could explore. But until we're called in, we wouldn't do anything else," he said.
