D.C. Woman Receives Erroneous Warrant For Arrest From Hoover PD

HOOVER, AL — A woman who lives in the Washington, D.C., area who says she has not been to the state of Alabama in more than a year had a warrant issued against her for her participation in a Black Lives Matter protest in Hoover. A WBRC report said Hannah Murphy has since cleared up the matter with Hoover police.

Murphy said she received the warrant in the mail and contacted the Hoover Police Department, who insisted they had video footage of her blocking traffic at a Hoover protest. After providing receipts showing she was in Virginia that day, the charges were dropped, according to WBRC.

"On July 4th, a female protester was among a group who was arrested for sitting down in the middle of U.S. Highway 31 southbound traffic," Hoover Police Captain Gregg Rector said in a written statement.

"Before she could be loaded onto the jail transport bus, she told officers that she was having a medical emergency and requested paramedics. The Hoover Fire Department responded and this individual was transported to a local hospital. While gathering information, the arresting officer received incorrect personal identifiers for the subject who was being arrested. Since the arrestee was transported to the hospital, the officer obtained an arrest warrant from the city magistrate. A notice, informing the defendant that a warrant had been issued for her arrest was mailed to her last known address in Sterrett, Alabama. This individual had apparently moved out of state and was able to verify with the magistrate that she was not the individual who was present at the July 4th protest. The arrest warrant was re-called by the magistrate and she was never booked into the jail.”

Read the full story from WBRC.