NY: Town of Rotterdam, police department face lawsuit over arrest
A man who was falsely arrested by the Rotterdam Police Department for improperly submitting a photo for the sex offender registry list is now suing the department and the town over the four days he spent in jail.
William Harwood filed paperwork March 25 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York seeking a jury trial and damages after he said he suffered emotional distress from the incident.
Harwood, who is representing himself, said in court documents that in 2018 he was required to provide the department with an updated photo for the registry, where he was listed as a Level 1 sex offender.
“In 2018, Plaintiff insisted on coming into the state to take his updated photograph and submit it to the sex offender database,” Hardwood said in the court documents. “Officer Claude Sawyer, an employee of Rotterdam Police Department, instructed Plaintiff to not come into the police station and instead text a current photograph to Officer Sawyer’s phone.”
It wasn’t until 2020 when another officer at the department was looking through the database that the department realized there was not an updated photo for Harwood.
Harwood said he was brought in for questioning and that is when he explained what had happened.
“The officers refused to listen to Plaintiff, and did not ask Officer Sawyer for his account,” Harwood said.
Harwood was placed in jail on April 10. During his time in jail, Harwood said he gave his brother Sawyer’s email address.
“Plaintiff’s brother emailed Officer Sawyer the weekend the Plaintiff was in jail and Officer Sawyer replied, admitting his mistake,” Harwood said.
Even if Officer Sawyer denied ever recieving Harwood’s photo via text it could have been proven through cell phone records. I commend the officer for being honest and forthcoming. However, he pretty much had no choice. Anyways this is why I always do my registry requirements in person. I am glad my local sheriff’s office will not accept anything other than a physical in person registry. Otherwise the possibility of someone with a vendetta towards you could change your registry info and have you in violation without you event knowing about it. I don’t know how true this is but I heard that the pandemic had an impact on in person registry requirements during the initial lockdown. I didn’t let the pandemic stop me from doing my twice a year requirements even during the lockdown in March of last year. They can’t arrest me for trying to fulfill me registry requirements but they sure can arrest me for failure to register. I M very pleased to hear things our turning out positive for Harwood.
This is an example of why I keep my registry records in a file. About 8 years ago, I had JSO (Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office) come to my home to arrest me for failure to register (3 guys). I told the officers that was impossible and I had copies of my records to prove I had fulfilled my requirements. He asked to see my hard copy documents. I said, one moment and went back into the house. They were not invited in nor did they try to stop me. In about a minute I returned with my 3 plus inch thick file of re-reg documents. I asked what re-reg were they missing. I pulled out my copy for their review. One of the officers apologized and said there was an update in the system and many of the re-reg documents were “lost”. They asked if they could take the copy of the documents. I responded NO, but I can make u a copy. I did and they thanked me for my time. After they left I was thinking, how different this could have been if I didnt have my documents in order.
This is why during covid I was scared to death. Not of the covid, but they were having people call in and no receipts were being giving, resulting in ZERO proof you registered. Everything is back to normal now but I just hope nothing bites us in the butt, similiar to what happened above, officers going through OLD files trying to fish for something to bait you with.
It was an honest mistake on the part of the officer. The problem is way to many damn rules. Even the officers can’t keep them straight so how do they expect the registrants to.
@DavidM:
I disagree. The officer did a workaround that didn’t work. As the lawsuit states, the Plaintiff, “insisted” on a personal appearance and the officer explicitly instructed him not to appear. All I see is a lazy cop who had nothing to lose in the bargain.
David
Not sure if you have seen the news, but the capitol was attacked today 4/2/21 and a police officer killed as well as the suspect. The reason I am bringing that up in here? Every time I see something news worthy like this, I say “Please God don’t let it be someone on the registry”.
Why you ask does that matter since it is already bad enough? Well think about it, if something really major took place involving a registered citizen, especially if an officer is killed, we are all going to pay the wrath. Homes will be raided illegally looking for non existent porn, fake registry violations will suddenly happen, nit picking every single aspect of our lives in retaliation would happen to us. If one of us falls hard, we all fall.
Interesting. Because I always think that it would be good if it was a PFR and the person said they did it because of the Hit Lists.
No it would not be good if a registrant attacked Capitol Police. Why would we even put that on this platform?
Jacob
I agree to attack police or anyone using violence is NEVER going to accomplish anything good. Bad actions only beget bad results. We have to prove to them that we are better than that. They are the ones with the bad actions in the first place by establishing the registry. It is bad ,evil ,unjust ,discriminatory ,hateful , and only results in more evil. We are better than that and the ones who promoted it . We must prove that.
Also as a secondary thought. It’s not bad that others express their views that may not go along with mine . That way I have a chance to possibly express my views. Which hopefully can turn into a positive outcome for both. If someone has a biased view and is not allowed to express it how can that one be reasoned with to hopefully change that view.
We can agree to disagree. Tyrants deserve what they get.
Why not “put that on this platform”. Would you prefer that FAC expose only approved opinions? Prefer that people be lead to believe that certain opinions don’t exist? I feel FAC does do that to an extent and that gives an inaccurate understanding of reality.
Sorry you feel that way. FAC absolutely DOES NOT condone violence. It goes against our member code of conduct, “Any conduct that encourages or permits an offensive or hostile environment will not be tolerated.”
We disagree with your position, Will, and our site will not be a forum for encouraging violence.
When we target person(s) for violence based solely on the group they’re associated with (in this case, the Capitol Police), there’s a common word for that. I think we’re familiar with the term.
I reject the notion that this is a point of view that can be reasoned with. Using FAC’s platform to express sucks views, runs the risk of placing a target on FAC. They do not owe us a platform.
*’to express such views’ damn auto-complete
SAY NO TO VIOLENCE!
SAY YES TO REMOVING A PERSON’S QUALIFIED IMMUNITY STATUS AND SUE THE KNUCKLEHEAD IN CIVIL COURT….DRAIN THEIR WALLETS!
DRAIN THEIR FINANCIAL LIVES!
It’s your web site so you can frame reality however you like it. Plenty of websites do. I do wish they would all be more explicit in stating that they do and exactly how. Perhaps via very prominent “content” statements (e.g. “we don’t allow the discussion of ideas X, Y, or Z”)?
I expect you already know this but I was not encouraging violence. I was trying to discuss its impact.
People should already know that there has been serious violent retaliation for the Hit Lists (e.g. children have been murdered). I don’t think it made the Hit Lists “worse”. It did attract a lot of attention. It did allow smart people to see that the Hit Lists were not just worthless, but that they were a lot worse. Incredibly though, some criminal legislators said the cases were reasons why the Hit Lists needed to exist! The only thing I could figure out with that is that the legislators were shockingly stupid or that they thought most of the public is.
I could see how it could have a worse impact on the Hit Lists though. The fact is that most of the public truly does not care about facts. They truly don’t care if the Hit Lists cause innocent people to be murdered. They want vengeance and they want to feel good. I really think that is it. So nearly all bad things that happen to innocents due to the Hit Lists will just be shrugged off and the knuckle draggers who support the Hit Lists will just foam at the mouth more. They are a hateful mob with the main intent to only harass others. I mean, look at IML. What kind of moron would think that would be useful? It’s just for harassment and to satisfy truly dumb people.
Jacob
I agree. If it was someone on the registry, we would be done for. The retribution would be massive and wide spread, with new laws, compliance sweeps, harassment from law enforcement AND the public. Anything that puts us in the spotlight for something bad, is bad for ALL of us.
That is why everytime they do these fake stings and blast it across the news, I cringe. The neighbors watch the news and see that and then think that is a reminder that is time to refresh their kids memories of the creepy boogy man who lives 20 houses away.
Good to see someone else holding them accountable for their abuse.