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Police Protected in Mistaken Identity Case

Berkshire, Vermont - November 4, 2009

"On the way to the jail I kept saying to myself, you know this is a really bad dream. This is not real," Sarah Clark said.

But the bad dream was real in July when Clark-- then eight and a half months pregnant with her infant son Chance-- was arrested at home in Berkshire in front of her partner Brad Bosley by Franklin County Sheriff's deputies. She was cuffed and shackled and taken to the state prison in St. Albans. The deputies believed she was Indiana drug fugitive Sara Clark who had been wanted on warrants for six years.

But they had the wrong Sarah Clark. This one is a well-known lifelong resident of Berkshire who had never been arrested for anything.

"Being eight and a half months pregnant with him and being told you're going to be put in jail, for something you didn't do! It just goes to prove that you're guilty until you're proven innocent."

The authorities realized their mistake the next day when Indiana authorities provided fingerprints that didn't match-- but only after this Sarah Clark had been strip searched and imprisoned for 15 hours. She contacted lawyer Peter Langrock hoping to sue the sheriffs for false arrest.

"Nobody should have to go through what she went through but sometimes the law does not provide a remedy," Langrock said.

But Langrock says the sheriffs acted in good faith in this case and made an honest effort to ensure they had the right Sara Clark. So under law they are immune from a lawsuit.

"She was shackled- she went to prison. I mean there's some horrible things that happened. But it wasn't done maliciously to hurt her or so recklessly that there is grounds for a compensation," Langrock said.

The Sheriff is standing behind his deputies' actions and is not offering an apology.

"Well basically, it was an unfortunate incident that transpired. The deputies acted in good faith. When it was rectified the following day in court the individual was released-- end of story," Franklin County Sheriff Robert Norris said.

But believe it or not, Sarah Clark's nightmare with false arrest may not yet be over. She learned that the hard way 3 and a half weeks ago when her fiancé Brad driving her car with her license plates pulled into the parking lot here at Mac's Market in Richford and he was approached by a Vermont State Trooper.

"I said, can I help you sir?" Bosley recounted. "And he's like, yeah, is this car registered to a Sara Clark. I said, yeah, yeah, that's my fiancée. He said, well, did you know there's a warrant out for her arrest?"

For now, Sarah Clark worries that she will once again be the victim of a false arrest and says it is unfair that she cannot sue the sheriff's department.

"I was furious," she said. "I was sad. I was hurt. I was feeling like they can just come and get you wherever they want to. But nothing's going to happen to the sheriffs or the law enforcement because they're acting 'in good faith.'"

Brian Joyce - WCAX News