The city of Columbus has agreed to pay an Orlando man $375,000 after he was falsely arrested at gunpoint, strip-searched and cavity-searched for a crime he did not commit.
Timothy L. Hawkins, who previously lived in Columbus, Ohio, was identified by a witness in a photo lineup for a November 2019 robbery. One of the suspects had the same first name as Hawkins, but the man “was much taller” and “much younger,” his attorneys argued. He was later released.
Hawkins, 39, filed a federal lawsuit against Columbus in August 2021. The City Council unanimously voted in favor of a settlement on Monday, Sept. 19.
“After review, it was determined that there were problems with the witness’ identification of Mr. Hawkins,” Brian Shinn, chief of the claims division for the Columbus City Attorney’s office, told council members. “So the city attorney’s office recommends that this settlement is in the best interest of the city to avoid a potential jury award of damages and an award of attorneys’ fees.”
Hawkins accused two Columbus Police detectives of violating his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, battery, false arrest and imprisonment, malicious prosecution and criminal conduct. The Black man said he found out about the charges when he received a letter in August 2020 from an attorney soliciting legal defense services. His attorney contacted lead Detective Bryan Williams and said Hawkins would come to Columbus to turn himself in, but Williams had been reassigned.
The new detective on the case, Ray Meister refused to let Hawkins appear in court to clear his name. He claimed the Columbus Police Department was not authorized to deviate from procedure, and Hawkins had to be “arrested, processed, given his Miranda rights, and interviewed,” the complaint says.
Hawkin’s attorney believes Meister did not tell federal authorities about Hawkins’ offer to cooperate. U.S. Marshals instead flooded the man’s home with guns drawn and arrested him in September 2020.
Although he had recently moved from Columbus, Hawkins said he “had no relationship to the crimes committed” and was nowhere in the vicinity of the crime, but he was forced to stay in jail for seven days at the “height of the deadly global pandemic.”
“He could not bathe for multiple days and was held in cold, unsanitary conditions,” the lawsuit obtained by Atlanta Black Star says.
The two men named on the police report for aggravated robbery were Timothy Ethan and Jamle Sharals Johnson. Ethan was 30 when Hawkins was arrested, and he reportedly is 6 feet 1 inch tall. Johnson is 6 feet 3 inches tall, and Hawkins is 5 feet 8.
A Franklin County judge dismissed the charges, finding that Hawkins “was very obviously not the perpetrator.”
Hawkin’s final award will be $239,335, and his attorneys will get the remaining $135,665, the ordinance said.
