Terrifying body camera video showed the moment US Marshals arrested an innocent Arizona grandmother under the barrel of a gun after mistaking her for a completely different person.
The two-minute video, obtained by ABC15 after six months of harassing the federal government, it showed officers armed with rifles shouting orders at 66-year-old Penny McCarthy.
McCarthy was confused and scared during the March 5 incident, and at first didn’t even realize that U.S. Marshals were chasing her.
She told ABC15 after the fact, “I really felt like I was being kidnapped.”
Federal agents arrived at McCarthy’s Phoenix home with guns drawn and immediately told him to put his hands up.
US Marshals are shown arriving at Penny McCarthy’s home in Phoenix with guns drawn. They tell her to raise her hands, shout orders at her and threaten her with violence several times.
McCarthy is seen being escorted to a car with handcuffs on.
“We have an arrest warrant,” a federal agent is heard saying in the video.
‘For me?’ McCarthy responded.
‘Yeah. For you,” the officer said.
‘Who am I?’ she asked, apparently wanting the officers to confirm that she was actually the person they were looking to detain.
Several officers then yelled at him and gave him contradictory orders.
‘Decline. Turn around. Decline. We will discuss it later. Decline. They’re going to hit you,’ they said.
Later in the video, while still standing in the driveway, McCarthy expressed skepticism that the officers confronting her were law enforcement officers.
‘Stop moving, stop looking back. Stop looking back!’ an officer shouted.
McCarthy then made an unintelligible comment in which he said the word “police.”
One of the marshals responds: ‘Madam, see that we are the police.’
‘How do I see that?’ she asked.
McCarthy repeatedly asked the officers who they thought she was. A deputy told her they believed she was Carole Ann Rozak, a fugitive wanted in Oklahoma for parole violations.
Carole Ann Rozak appears in a mugshot. Rozak was wanted for an outstanding parole violation dating back to 1999.
Recounting the experience during an interview, he explained that he wasn’t going to just believe they were police officers.
Once McCarthy was handcuffed and led to the car, one of the deputies finally told him who they thought they were arresting.
An officer ruled out the name of Carole Ann Rozak, 70, a fugitive wanted in Oklahoma for parole violations.
“That’s not who I am,” McCarthy told them.
This did not deter deputies from arresting her anyway, according to the video.
ABC15 first published a story about the dramatic mistake on April 4, about a month after McCarthy’s wrongful arrest.
Ten days later, the US Marshals admitted their mistake. This also came days after a federal judge in Arizona dismissed the case against McCarthy, who spent time in prison over the mix-up.
According to the deputy U.S. marshal in Oklahoma, they first believed Rozak’s fingerprints matched McCarthy’s. But after a full fingerprint analysis was carried out, this was debunked.
McCarthy did an interview with ABC15 after the wrongful arrest, where she had to hold back tears several times while recounting the incident.
Josh Kolsrud, a criminal defense attorney with experience as a federal prosecutor, was extremely alarmed by what happened to McCarthy.
“They did nothing but treat me like shit and lie to me,” McCarthy said. ‘Since this happened. Sorry, I am very disappointed in my government. It’s not funny.’
Rozak was wanted for an outstanding parole violation dating back to 1999. All of the crimes for which she served time were non-violent in nature, but after her release, she did not meet with any federal parole officers, according to court records.
Josh Kolsrud, a criminal defense attorney with experience as a federal prosecutor, was extremely alarmed by what happened to McCarthy.
“This case is concerning because of the way Ms. McCarthy was arrested,” he told ABC15.
“A textbook example of federal agencies not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Kolsrud reviewed the body camera videos and concluded that the U.S. Marshals used excessive force.
“Anyone who watches this video can see that this was an aggressive arrest and an aggressive apprehension,” he said. “And it’s unreasonable on many levels.”
Koslrud also questioned how officers made the arrest without being sure of McCarthy’s identity.
‘We expect law enforcement to have the ability, determination and ethics to establish who someone is when they arrest them. And in this case they didn’t do it,’ he added.