Lady who was erroneously jailed for two months must be so annoyed

If your name’s Teresa, stay away from the cops

August 21 was a terrible day to be named Teresa.

See, Atlanta police were looking for an aggravated assaulter named Teresa that day, and basically just scooped up the first Teresa they came across, tossed her in jail and kept her there for FIFTY THREE DAYS.

From the AJC:
Teresa Culpepper’s nightmare began Aug. 21, when she called police to report her truck had been taken from in front of her Hawkins Street home. She ended up being arrested for an aggravated assault allegedly committed by another woman named Teresa.

“Her birth date didn’t match. Her address didn’t match. Her description didn’t match. Other than the name Teresa, nothing matched,” said Culpepper’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant.

To get her client out of jail, Merchant — a public defender — had to arrange for the victim of the assault to appear in court and physically tell a judge that the Teresa being detained wasn’t the Teresa who’d beat her up.

WSBTV tracked down the real Teresa — who just happened to be wearing a really great Ja Rule T-shirt at the time — and she explained she shouldn’t be arrested because of “extenuating circumstances.” I don’t think it works that way, lady (although, clearly, things don’t always work the way they should).

The APD is launching an internal investigation to see if any policies or procedures were violated. If there aren’t policies against arresting and imprisoning a person just because they have the same first name as a person who committed a crime, THERE SHOULD BE.

Video after the jump ...