Woonsocket Settles False Arrest Lawsuit For $550K: ACLU

WOONSOCKET, IL — The city of Woonsocket settled a false arrest lawsuit with a resident for $550,000, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Plaintiff in the case, Mack Blackie, was arrested in August 2022 in connection with the burglary of an apartment, according to his civil complaint.

While in court for his arraignment the next morning, Blackie collapsed and was taken to Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket, where he spent nine days, the complaint said.

The Woonsocket police then arrested Blackie again in October 2022 and he was charged with breaking and entering and assault, the complaint said.

Blackie was on probation at the time and was held for 17 days as a probation violator, after which his bond was set at $1,000, according to the complaint.

Blackie could not afford to post bond and was held for another 13 days until the nonprofit Milagros Project, for which he had volunteered, bailed him out, the complaint said.

During a pretrial conference about three months later, the victims of the crime "observed that (Blackie) was the individual being prosecuted for the B&E and quickly realized that the wrong individual was being prosecuted," the complaint said.

They informed the prosecutor and the charges were dropped soon after, according to the complaint.

In his lawsuit, Blackie claimed Woonsocket Detective Timothy Hammond "knowingly and intentionally made several false statements" in an affidavit "and/or made them with reckless disregard for the truth."

Hammond, who was named as a defendant along with the city of Woonsocket and the Woonsocket Police Department, also failed to schedule a photo lineup, according to the lawsuit.

"This case serves as a stark reminder that our government continues to fall short of living up to the promises guaranteed by our Constitution and it is my hope that this settlement brings about a turning point in police behavior leading to the elimination of all wrongful arrests, wrongful charging, wrongful prosecutions, and wrongful convictions that far too often plague our society," ACLU attorney Joshua Xavier said in a statement released by the ACLU.