Police Left Two Teens in Holding Cell for Days

Americans are entitled to fair treatment by law enforcement officers, and our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense lawyers know that this holds true whether they are interacting with them casually on the street or whether they have been placed under arrest.

This principle was glaringly violated when two Georgia teenagers were kept in a courthouse holding cell without food, lights or toilet paper over this past weekend.

According to the Daily Caller, the teens, 16 and 17 years old respectively, were left in the holding cell “accidentally” after neither boy’s parents showed up.

The teenagers were supposed to have court appearances on Friday, but the appearance had to be rescheduled when it became clear that the suspects’ parents were not going to show up. Protocol, as our Palm Beach and Broward County criminal defense attorneys understand, called for the boys to be transported to the youth detention center, where they would be held until trial. Unfortunately, the teenagers never made it back to the youth detention center — they were left in the holding cell all weekend until they were discovered by police on Monday morning.

Understandably, the Douglas County Sheriff, Phil Miller, is as “embarrassed … as [he] can possibly be.” Embarrassment might decrease the likelihood that this type of police negligence will happen again, but it doesn’t fix the terrible incident that already occurred. Miller has said that he expects a number of police officers who were involved in the incident to lose their jobs over this.

We readily trust police officers with being observant and judicious in carrying out their duties of enforcing the law. The fact is, though, this case highlights the fact that, often times, police officers are anything but observant or judicious.

If you have been arrested for or charged with a crime in Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade County, you deserve an attorney who will fight for your rights, which means not only defending you against the criminal charges you face, but also making sure that you are treated with the dignity and respect that you deserve and that the law affords you. To reach one of our experienced Fort Lauderdale lawyers and to schedule a free consultation, please call us at 1-888-5-DEFEND (1-888-533-3363). We look forward to assisting you.