JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. – A teen girl was mistakenly arrested at school Wednesday after police obtained an arrest warrant for a different girl with the same name and year of birth who went to the same school.
The 14-year-old girl was arrested at Wheat Ridge High School and released hours later.
The girl and her mother tell Denver7 they were confused about the girl’s arrest in the first place.
Her mother is in the midst of a legal dispute with her husband over abuse allegations, and she has obtained a protection order that prohibits her husband from contacting her daughter.
The mother says she believes her husband requested a welfare check on their daughter, and when officers ran the girl’s name, they found an arrest warrant.
The girl was handcuffed and led out of school around 1:30 p.m. She was not released until 7:30 p.m.
Wheat Ridge police said the mistake happened because of a clerical error, saying that both teens had the same first and last name but different birthdays. Both attend Wheat Ridge High School, however.
The girl who actually had a warrant out for her arrest had violated a court order related to a sexting offense, police said.
Wheat Ridge PD says it is conducting an internal investigation regarding the incident, but that the officer involved will not face discipline because he was following the orders of the warrant approved by a judge.
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