Mistakes Happen

James Douglas Anderson was arrested by Pinellas County sheriff's officers on a 33-year-old warrant for narcotics possession. But they released him six days later. Did they have a change of heart about the war on drugs? No, his attorney asked them to check his fingerprints against those in the original arrest report. It turns out they had the wrong man. The fact that Anderson had a different middle name from the man police wanted apparently didn't raise any doubts or lead them to take the basic step of checking Anderson's fingerprints before his attorney asked. Anderson has no criminal record.