Philadelphia woman mistaken for suspect wanted in Texas jailed for nearly a week
Philadelphia woman mistaken for suspect wanted in Texas spend days in prison
Julie Hudson, a Philadelphia Ph.D student with no criminal record, was jailed for almost a week when police mistook her for a suspect wanted for a crime in Texas. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and local law enforcement held a press conference Thursday apologizing for the erroneous arrest and explaining what happened.
PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia woman spent several days behind bars after she was arrested for a crime committed in Texas in a bizarre case of mistaken identity.
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office on Thursday offered an apology to Julie Hudson and tried to explain the series of events that lead to her erroneous incarceration.
District Attorney Larry Krasner said it all started when Hudson was denied a job due to an active warrant for a crime committed in Texas.
Hudson, according to Krasner, claimed she had never been to Texas and went to the Philadelphia Police Department's 35th District precinct to clear her name. There, she was placed in handcuffs and spent six days behind bars before police received a media tip about the wrongful arrest.
Hudson, a Ph.D student with no criminal record, was released early Thursday morning. The district attorney's office claims police in Webster, Texas made no effort to contact authorities in Philadelphia about the misidentification of Hudson.
"Without pointing fingers and blaming, as an institution law enforcement owes [Hudson] an apology," Krasner said. "We ought to be able to do better than rely on relatives and rely on media to be a notification process to get you out of jail six days later without your medications, we ought to be able to do better than that."
The Philadelphia Police Department said it has launched an investigation into how Hudson's arrest happened. Mayor Jim Kenney said he is "dismayed by the ordeal she and her family went through due to an erroneous warrant from another jurisdiction."