Man Sues Police Over Mistaken Identity

Mistakenly labeled as a criminal by King County Police, a 22-year-old community college student has filed a lawsuit seeking damages.

“The irony is that once the lie is let loose, the truth can never catch up,” said Frank Shoichet, lawyer for Jerrimi Olsen.

Olsen was charged with burglary in 1995 because of a mistake by a county detective. The charges were dropped that year, but not before Olsen’s driver’s license picture was published in “Crime Report,” a free booklet listing people being sought on criminal warrants.

Shoichet said Olsen’s picture also was shown on a public service announcement on Channel 23, and it cost Olsen $3,000 in lawyer’s frees to finally get his name cleared.

The mistaken charges resulted from the burglary of a home in Burien on Nov. 17, 1994.

A witness told police he knew the name of a “kid” he saw running from the scene. He gave police a name similar to Olsen’s and the high school the suspect attended.

Mike Hartman, a detective, found Olsen’s name through a driver’s license search. The burglary charges were filed even though Olsen never attended the high school mentioned by the witness. And no photo was shown the witness.

Police later acknowledged Hartman’s mistake.

Olsen, a supermarket clerk, is an exemplary young man who was emotionally distraught at the thought of spending even a few days in jail, Shoichet said.