A man who was wrongfully arrested and forced to spend more than two years at a psychiatric hospital in Hawaii because the authorities mistook him for another person who was suspected in a crime will receive a $975,000 settlement from the city and county of Honolulu.
The man, Joshua Spriestersbach, 54, was homeless and sleeping outside a shelter in Honolulu in May 2017 when an officer woke him up and arrested him on a warrant for a crime he had not committed, according to court records.
The arresting officer had mistaken him for Thomas R. Castleberry, who was wanted on drug-related charges. Mr. Spriestersbach, whose family has said he has schizophrenia, repeatedly told officers and medical personnel that he was not Mr. Castleberry.
Still, he spent 32 months in state custody — four in jail in Oahu and 28 in a psychiatric hospital. At Hawaii State Hospital, medical officials “determined him to be delusional and decompensating” and forced him to take medications until he “became catatonic” because he continued to assert that he was not Mr. Castleberry, according to court records.
The Honolulu City Council approved the $975,000 settlement for Mr. Spriestersbach at its meeting on Wednesday. The council and the Honolulu Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Alphonse Gerhardstein, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Spriestersbach, said he and his client were “very pleased” that the council had approved the settlement. The city also corrected its records that associated Mr. Spriestersbach with Mr. Castleberry, meaning he should no longer face the risk of being rearrested or jailed for Mr. Castleberry’s crimes, which will give Mr. Spriestersbach “great peace of mind,” Mr. Gerhardstein said.
The confusion over Mr. Spriestersbach’s identity dates to October 2011, when he fell asleep on the steps of a middle school in Honolulu and was questioned by a Honolulu Police Department officer, according to court records. When the officer asked him his name, Mr. Spriestersbach would give only his grandfather’s last name, Castleberry.
The officer searched for the name in his mobile data computer and found an arrest warrant for Thomas R. Castleberry issued in 2009. Mr. Spriestersbach told the officer that he was William C. Castleberry, the name of his grandfather and one he would occasionally use. He was arrested on the warrant but released, according to court records.
The last name Castleberry remained in police records as an alias for Mr. Spriestersbach. The authorities questioned Mr. Spriestersbach about the warrant again in 2015, but he was released after his fingerprints did not match those of the real Mr. Castleberry.
But the officers who arrested Mr. Spriestersbach in 2017 did not verify his identity, leading to his wrongful imprisonment, according to court records.
Mr. Spriestersbach was released from the state hospital in January 2020, when medical staff members confirmed that he was not Mr. Castleberry. He was driven back to the homeless shelter where he had been arrested more than two years earlier and was given 50 cents, two copies of his birth certificate, his state identification and a Social Security card, according to court records.
He filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Hawaii, the city and county of Honolulu, the state public defender’s office and Hawaii State Hospital in November 2021.
Mr. Spriestersbach may also receive a $200,000 settlement from the state of Hawaii to resolve his claims against the Hawaii public defender’s office, which he accused of legal malpractice in the lawsuit.
Mr. Spriestersbach told the lawyers assigned to represent him that the police had arrested the wrong man, but the public defenders used his protests as “evidence of his incompetency,” according to court records.
The state settlement is working toward the required legislative approval.
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
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