Jamieson Prince of the Bronx is suing the NYPD for $1 million after he was arrested for "stealing" his own car in November. Cops allegedly cuffed Prince as he was getting ready to drive his daughters to school in his 2007 GMC Yukon, and would not listen to him when he said he had papers proving ownership. Here's how the mixup went down.
Prince's son had borrowed his SUV in July. There was an accident, he fled the scene and cops seized the Yukon when he was arrested. But when Prince went to the precinct to retrieve the car, they found it had been stolen from the police. "They had absolutely no idea what happened to it," said Prince. Miraculously, four months later Prince said he found the Yukon parked near the stationhouse, got in and drove off. But police accused him criminal possession of stolen property, and said they were still using it for evidence. He spent 24 hours in lockup for the "crime."
Police still have the car in custody, and say Prince "did not have permission or authority to take, remove, or exercise control over (the vehicle) without first obtaining permission from the New York City Police Department." But Prince's lawyer says something is fishy about how the police managed to just "lose" the evidence. "You can't lose a 5-ton truck," he said. "Either they're completely incompetent or someone was up to no good." The charges against Prince were dropped on January 12th, but he says he just wants justice: "I just want my daughters to know their father didn't break the law."
