Deputy Misread License Plate - February 7, 2023

On the night of February 7th, 2023, a Caldwell Parish Sheriff's Office deputy ran a license plate on a Lincoln Town Car, but he "accidentally" misread one digit of the plate. The misread plate returned to an expired and canceled plate on something completely different, giving the deputy a reason to stop the car. Once stopped, he ran the correct plate and the driver's information, and let the driver go.

To the deputy's defense, sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between a W and an M on a license plate. On the other hand, this deputy and certain others in this department do have a very lengthy history of "accidentally" misreading license plates, when they really want to stop somebody but don't have legal grounds to do so otherwise.

Also of note: "accidentally" misreading the license plate was what a Frisco, Texas police officer used in July 2023 to "justify" stopping a black family from Arkansas that she didn't otherwise have legal grounds to stop. That officer admitted on camera to mis-reading the plate twice: once when she typed it into her in-car computer as being out of Arizona instead of Arkansas, and again when she radioed it in to dispatch as being out of Arizona.