Wesley Leasy, a former Arizona Cardinals player, has taken legal steps against the Mesa and Phoenix Police Departments, filing a notice of claim seeking $1 million in damages following a wrongful detention incident earlier this year at Sky Harbor Airport, as reported by ABC15. Leasy, who played linebacker for the Cardinals in the mid-'90s, found himself and his daughter at gunpoint by police who mistakenly identified him as a suspect in a homicide investigation.
The error emerged from a description match with the suspect's vehicle and Leasy's white Mercedes, a mix-up that had Leasy and his daughter lying on the ground handcuffed for less than five minutes before officers realized their mistake recognizing that witnesses had described the suspect as a white male which Leasy is not, ABC15 reported. Despite a swift apology from a Mesa police sergeant at the scene, the former Cardinals player and his attorney voiced their concerns about the use of excessive force and the trauma sustained.
"There's not a day that passes that I don't think me and my daughter could have been dead on that ground that day," Leasy expressed, highlighting the lasting psychological impact, in a statement obtained by FOX 10 Phoenix. His attorney, Benjamin Taylor, insisted this was not merely a case of mistaken identity but an issue of common sense, arguing that such traumatic experiences are too often dismissed and must be brought to light.
During the incident captured on body camera, Leasy tried to maintain his composure, understanding the gravity of the situation where a single wrong move could be fatal as he told ABC15, "If I look the wrong way, if I make the wrong sound, if I move my finger, if they think I'm threatening, it's over." Leasy's claim includes photos provided by the Mesa Police Department of the actual suspect, starkly contrasting the individual the police had in custody, while both departments involved have refrained from commenting on the pending lawsuit.
