In 2019, he was wrongfully arrested by MNPD. Now Nashville will pay him $236,000.
Subject
Nashville; Ralph Ward; MNPD
Description
It was a Thursday night in 2019, and Ralph Ward had a busy day at work. He had a corporate job with T-Mobile and had also picked up a gig delivering packages for Amazon.
On his way home, he decided to stop at his favorite liquor store.
The encounter he’d have with police there has resulted in one of the largest wrongful arrest settlements the city has made. It also revealed a gap that existed in police training.
That night, Ward remembers walking into the store. The attendant at the counter greeted him.
But before Ward could reply, he heard a commotion behind him.
“I looked back, and I saw about six or seven officers with guns drawn. And they’re like, ‘Get on the ground. Get on the ground.’ And I’m like, looking at them like, ‘Huh? Who? Me?’”
Officers pointed their guns at Ward. They handcuffed him on the floor of the store.
He kept asking what exactly was going on, but couldn’t get any answers.
Eventually, one officer told Ward that he was being arrested for fleeing a traffic stop on I-65 North.
But Ward said he had not taken that way home; he even had GPS records of his routes to prove it.
Yet the officers didn’t take that into consideration.
“I feel like, if I was a white male, I don’t even think I would have been put in handcuffs,” Ward says. “I don’t even think there would have been any guns drawn on me, to be honest with you.”
Creator
Source
https://wpln.org/post/in-2019-he-was-wrongfully-arrested-by-mnpd-now-nashville-will-pay-him-236000/
Publisher
wpln.org
File
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