Las Vegas police who botched an arrest and put the wrong Shane Brown behind bars now face a costly lawsuit for their embarrassing mix-up of a young black man and a middle-aged white man.
Shane Lee Brown, a black man, now 25, spent six days in Henderson and Clark County jails in 2020 after being mistaken for Shane Neal Brown, a then-49-year-old white man, because they have the same first and last names, and a warrant was out for Shane Neal for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
The younger Brown is now suing the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) for $550,000 for the mix-up, seeking $500,000 under federal law and $50,000 under state law. The Atlanta Black Star reported that he filed the suit on January 7.
'Had any of the LVMPD police or corrections officers performed any due diligence, such as comparing Shane Lee Brown's booking photo against the existing mug shot belonging to the world, white ''Shane Brown'' named in the warrant, they would have easily determined that Shane Lee Brown has been misidentified as the subject of the warrant,' the lawsuit states.
Shane Lee Brown (left), a black man, 25, was wrongfully arrested after being mistaken for then-49-year-old white man, Shane Neal Brown (right) on January 8, 2020. The young man told multiple officers that he was not the right man, but authorities failed to review reports, keeping him in jail for six days
Not only did police mix up Shanes, but they failed to realize that the man they were actually looking for, Shane Neal Brown, was already being held in custody in San Bernardino County, California, authorities discovered on January 22.
At the time of his arrest on January 8,
