LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A split Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a Bella Vista police officer doesn’t have to face trial after arresting the wrong woman on an outstanding warrant.
Officer Travis Trammell argued that he never intended to falsely imprison the woman and that he should have immunity from the lawsuit she filed against him. The justices voted 7-2 to grant him immunity, with the dissenters saying the woman who was arrested should have some recourse against those responsible.
Trammell claimed that while checking on a report of gunfire near an area known as the Grosvenor Gravel Pits, he came across Linda Wright and three others. Relying on information from the Arkansas Crime Information Center, a dispatcher told Trammell that Wright was wanted on a warrant in Elkins.
After the woman objected, Trammell re-checked with the dispatcher, who told him the warrant was good. It turned out that the warrant was for another woman with the same name and that the ACIC’s database was wrong.
Court records show that Wright spent more than 12 hours in custody before she posted bond and was released from jail in May 2012.
A lower court questioned whether Trammell practiced due diligence and it refused to grant Trammell immunity from the lawsuit. The high court justices said Trammell did not have the actual warrant with him at the time of the arrest and relied on information from the crime information center.
“All of the information that Officer Trammell had in his possession, which was verified by dispatch, indicated that Wright was the subject of the warrant,” Justice Paul E. Danielson wrote for the court. He said Trammell committed no intentional acts of false arrest or false imprisonment.
Justice Jo Hart said a deeper check into the ACIC database would have revealed that Trammell had the wrong woman, as the two Linda Wrights had different addresses, hometowns and driver’s license numbers.
“Wright alleges that due to errors committed by law enforcement officials, she was unlawfully imprisoned,” Hart wrote. “For this, she should have recourse against those law enforcement officials who are responsible.”
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