Savannah GA woman falsely arrested following vacation in Myrtle Beach, lawsuit says
A Savannah woman is suing the Horry County Police Department and the county for being falsely arrested after a vacation to Myrtle Beach in 2021.
This is just one of several false arrest lawsuits the county and police department are currently facing. There have been at least three others since the start of this year.
The lawsuit was filed by Ieshia Bryant on May 30. Her attorney, Natasha Hanna, could not be reached before publication.
Around April 1, 2021, Bryant traveled to Myrtle Beach with her boyfriend, daughter and friends for spring break, the suit says. She withdrew $60 from a CVS ATM machine to buy medicine.
The suit continues to say that about a month after returning home, she was contacted by a detective from the Savannah Financial Crimes Unit. The detective asked her if she had used a credit card owned by Ayers Aviation, LLC to withdraw $400 dollars on April 2.
She admitted being at the location at that time, but denied using the card or withdrawing that amount. A few months later, an Horry County Police Officer contacted her and told her she had a warrant out for her arrest.
The warrant was for financial transaction fraud in the amount of $500 or less.
In September, she drove to J. Reuben Long Detention Center and spent the day in jail. She was released on bond around 6 p.m.
Credit card bank statements revealed that the victim’s credit card had been used at five locations in Horry County, according to the suit. The filing argues that the CVS theft was the only incident reviewed by the police, and the “entire investigation was meek at best.”
“Ms. Bryant had no criminal record and was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the suit says.
In December that year, her charges were dismissed. The suit cites malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and false imprisonment as causes of action.
More information will become available as the lawsuit moves through the court.
Horry County police face several false arrest lawsuits
Earlier this year, a Texas man filed two separate lawsuits against the Horry County Police Department and a former lieutenant for a false search and arrest during Bike Week of May 2021.
In January, an Horry County man claimed he was falsely imprisoned after accidentally colliding with a deer in his truck while he had a courtesy summons from 2017, the complaint states.
In March, an 81 year old woman filed a suit stating that she spent a night in jail for a shoplifting crime she didn’t commit.
