Woman claims she now suffers from anxiety and other symptoms of PTSD after she spent nearly 2 weeks in jail because officers confused her for another suspect; lawsuit

The woman is now suing the police department and other city agencies after she reportedly spent 13 days in jail because officers confused her for another suspect they sought to arrest. She remained held at the women’s jail for 13 days, the filed lawsuit claims, as her family and friends worked to prove that the authorities had the wrong woman. She is now suing for $2.5million for emotional distress. It remains unclear why investigators were looking for the original suspect.

The woman from California, Bethany Farber, was about to board a Delta flight to Mexico, to visit family when she was detained by TSA officers in April last year.

According to reports, the responding officers believed they had a warrant for her arrest in Texas and escorted her to a private room where she was handcuffed to a chair. Farber reportedly had the same name as the wanted suspect with an outstanding arrest warrant. The woman was then taken into custody. The responding officers failed to check her driver’s license or confirm her identity.

Farber remained held at the women’s jail for 13 days, the filed lawsuit claims. According to the suit, Farber said that the authorities were looking for a woman with dark hair, despite Farber having blonde hair, according to reports.

The woman is now suing the police department, the airport police and the city officials in her wrongful arrest suit.

Bethany Farber reportedly said:

It was absolutely terrifying. I was shocked. It just kept getting worse. They arrested me for a state-wide fugitive warrant. I kept saying that they had the wrong person and to double check, and they just said, “no we have it”. Immediately, all I could think is, I’ve never been to Texas…I started to get upset, realizing that it was all actually happening.”

The woman told the officers that they had the wrong person, only for officers to nevertheless haul her to the women’s jail. The woman reportedly spent 13 days in jail as her family and friends worked to prove the police had the wrong woman.

Farber’s attorney proved her innocence after supplying cell phone GPS indicating that his client was in California on the day the other woman committed crimes in Texas. Farber says she is traumatized and scarred from her jail cell stint.

The woman also said that she reportedly witnessed heinous acts while inside and was reportedly forced to put hot food underneath her clothes just to keep warm while in jail, according to reports.

Attorney Rodney Diggs reportedly said:

“She had to spend her nights in a cold jail cell, listening to voices of other inmates screaming, crying, she saw fights within her cell, she saw fights in the common areas of the jail. They could have checked the birth dates, checked fingerprints, checked Social Security number. Farber had her passport on her at the time. That says that the system is flawed somewhere. The fact that there’s no procedures, no protocol.”

Attorney Diggs also said that the police department was reportedly told by the state of Texas that the wrong Farber was in custody three days before her release.

Farber was released on April 28, 2021 and is now suing for $2.5million for emotional distress.

Bethany Farber reportedly said:

“This has caused me a lot of distress in my life, a lot of anxiety. It has set me back financially. It’s impacted my business. There’s a lot of people out there who this is happening to who don’t have anyone advocating for them. They don’t have their family fighting for them every day, and every day that they’re in jail, wrongfully, their lives are being dismantled.”