…..THE OPERATIVE WORD HERE IS STUPID





In March of 2008, the cops misunderstood a complaint from a Springfield trucking company about an employee who had been fired while driving trailer that belonged to the company.  Fairfax Police wrongly assumed he had stolen the trailer and used GPA to track the man to Georgia. 
Fairfax phoned the Georgia state police who arrested the man at gunpoint.  He served 34 days in jail.  A Fairfax County jury found the driver innocent and awarded him $50,000 in damages for malicious prosecution, $200,000 for false imprisonment and $340,000 in punitive damages, just under Virginia's cap of $350,000.  The people of Fairfax County paid the tab, the cops walked away scot-free and the Board of supervisors said and did nothing.