Man jailed for 10 days after false accusation from 9 year old. Was police procedure correct?

[astro]

Just curious in this case. Is keeping this guy in jail for week and a half with no bond based on the drive by identification of a 9 year old standard operating procedure for police?

In addition how would they have been able to prove their case? If no one saw the interaction and the other guy didn’t step up to put the story right could he have actually gone to jail for the uncorroborated claim of a 9 year of that the accused tried to get him in his truck?

Inital story:

A former Spotsylvania school bus driver is under arrest, accused of attempting to abduct a 9-year-old boy.

The victim was on his scooter Monday evening headed home on Cedar Post Lane when a man in a pick-up truck pulled up. The suspect, 51-year-old Carl Rice, allegedly tried to lure the boy into his vehicle. The victim, knowing something wasn’t right, called his mother while the suspect fled the scene.

Mother and son then drove the neighborhood until the victim saw a truck he recognized as the suspect vehicle. The boy’s mother called police to the scene, where Rice was taken into custody.

Rice, a former substitute school bus driver for Spotsylvania County, is charged with attempted abduction.

The victim’s mother, Jennifer Stephens, credits her son for helping make the arrest.

“My son gave incredible details,” said Stephens. “I think its awesome - they’ve called him a hero. I definitely think he’s a hero.”

The rest of the story:

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY - Carl Rice spent more than a week behind bars on attempted child abduction charges, before Spotsylvania County authorities cleared his name Thursday.

“There was more than enough probable cause to arrest Mr. Rice, and we felt we would have been remiss if we had not arrested him based on the information that we had,” said Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney John Bowers.

The circumstances leading up to Rice’s arrest were bizarre.

The Spostylvania County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from an area parent, Jennifer Stephens, on May 17th after her son feared a stranger had tried to lure him into a car.

After speaking with the young boy and getting a full description of the suspect’s car, clothing and personal appearance, investigators landed on Rice’s doorstep.

“Mr. Rice matched the description of the suspect,” said Captain Liz Scott with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office. “The victim positively identified him at the time as the subject, and there were numerous pieces of evidence in the home that corroborated the victim’s story.”

Those pieces of evidence include Rice’s hat, clothing, truck and even the squeaky brakes in his car.

“The young boy had given a description of the man down to rough age, gender, race, clothing description- blue shirt and tan jacket- and when the Sheriff’s Office went to Mr. Rice’s house and he answered the door, he matched the description perfectly,” said Bowers.

Rice was arrested and spent more than a week and a half in jail, before another local resident came forward and told investigators that he had corresponded with the child to make sure the boy hadn’t hurt himself.

False Arrest Nightmare Ends

Carl Rice served as a Marine and he’s a civil war reenactor, but he just faced – and survived – the biggest battle of his life.

Rice was falsely accused and jailed after a 9-year-old Spotsylvania County boy reported that a man tried to abduct him. Today Rice and his wife, Trina, spoke exclusively to New4 about their ordeal.

It began May 17 when Spotsylvania County sheriff’s deputies knocked on his door and told him he was a suspect, that his pickup matched one described by the boy.

“You’re completely bewildered,” said Rice. “You don’t know how to act. All of a sudden my whole world is falling apart and it just starts getting worse.”

There was no photo line-up conducted. Instead, Rice said, deputies drove the boy past his house as he stood in the driveway. Even though he continued to insist he had nothing to do with the incident, Rice was taken to jail and held without bond.

“The only thing I could do there was count cinderblocks,” he said. "The only thing in my mind is, ‘I’m painted with a tar brush. I’m a pervert now.’ No matter what I do, everybody is going to think there is something wrong with me… It’s just unreal what it does to you. My whole life just comes to a screeching halt

[Magiver]

It’s a function of probability. The odds of error go down as detail is added. Someone driving a white truck, or wearing a tan shirt or a host of other details don’t mean anything until they are all brought together at the same time. The odds of someone with all the attributes witnessed narrows the odds.

Bringing the boy around to look at the guy is, however, poisoning the well of identification.

[enigmatic]

Isn’t the disturbing part, not the fact that he was mistakenly locked up on the basis of what would seem like a fairly reasonable description, but the fact that according to the second story no crime had actually occurred at all.

Given what happened to him it must have taken a lot of courage for the second individual to come forward and potentially put themselves in the frame of what seem to have been a pretty knee-jerk response, if that hadn’t happened would Mr Rice still be sitting in a cell now with no prospect of defending himself against a spurious accusation. Presumably it’s unlikely that he would have been found guilty, but I doubt he would have been able to escape the stigma.

[Quartz]

The Nordmark case is relevant here.

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Here’s my favorite part of the story:

@WTVR.com

By terrible coincidence, Rice’s home on Cedar Post Lane caught fire the last night he was in jail.

Bowers told CBS 6 the cause was an overheated food processor, and authorities aren’t examining the possibility of arson.

Neighbors, however, remain skeptical.

Do the authorities in this place do much of anything, really? I mean, that they’re supposed to?

Or is it that they have funding for all official functions except investigations?

[Loach]

@astro

Just curious in this case. Is keeping this guy in jail for week and a half with no bond based on the drive by identification of a 9 year old standard operating procedure for police?

In addition how would they have been able to prove their case? If no one saw the interaction and the other guy didn’t step up to put the story right could he have actually gone to jail for the uncorroborated claim of a 9 year of that the accused tried to get him in his truck?

1. Police procedure has nothing to do with if the guy goes to jail or stays there. Generally the police gather the information and a judge makes the determination if the charge can be placed on a warrant. A judge takes into account all the facts and determines if bail should be set. Police procedure is not an issue. Police don’t approve warrants or set bail (exceptions of course, particularly in the case of minor offenses and low bail).

2. The police need probable cause to make an arrest. There certainly was PC. In order to get a conviction it needs to be proven beyond a resonable doubt. That is up to the prosecutor to build the case. Could he have been convicted by the testimony of a 9 year old? Possibly. Imagine the outrage if they ignored the childs claim.

[fuzzypickles]

This whole incident shows how “Stranger Danger” has become totally overblown – a kid falls off his scooter, some random guy stops to ask if he’s okay, and suddenly he’s a potential child molester?? Lesson learned for us law-abiding citizens is to look the other way whenever I see a kid getting mauled by a bear or something.

@WTVR.com

Bowers told CBS 6 the cause was an overheated food processor, and authorities aren’t examining the possibility of arson. Neighbors, however, remain skeptical.

Hmm…the house of an accused child abductor mysteriously bursts into flame the same night he’s arrested. What an astounding coincidence. :rolleyes:

Sadly, the police are certain to be less likely to investigate now, since this whole incident made them look like idiots.

[alphaboi867]

@Snowboarder_Bo

…Do the authorities in this place do much of anything, really? I mean, that they’re supposed to?

Or is it that they have funding for all official functions except investigations?

Any chance his insurance company will carry out a private investigation or do they just take the local authorities word for it?