rockin'robin
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Andrew Flaherty hoped moving to Jacksonville meant he could connect with his brother, fish more often and enjoy life just a little bit more.
He was divorced, diabetic and legally blind. He had suffered two heart attacks already when he moved to Jacksonville.
More than a year later, security officers stopped him at a Navy base where his brother worked. His Florida ID, they said, called him a sex offender, even though he wasn’t.
He sued the Duval County Tax Collector’s Office, alleging the office defamed him by issuing the wrong identification which he showed to others.
He died Sunday after suffering a heart attack. He didn’t live to see his lawsuit go to trial.
Flaherty said in a 2013 interview he never wanted the lawsuit to define him.
He said he was shy. He worried about first impressions. He worried everyone he met in Florida thought he was a sex offender. He worried no one would believe him.
“I’m going all over town saying, ‘Here, let me slander myself.’ It’s so funny, but it’s so freaking horrible. It’s — oh my God, how do you deal with that?”
When Flaherty went into a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office on Blanding Boulevard and asked for a state ID card, the clerk faced a screen of yes-no options.
Organ donor. Insulin dependent. Florida resident. Sexual predator. Career offender. Sexual offender.
The clerk marked Flaherty as a sex offender, and his card printed.
The clerk testified in a deposition that she doesn’t remember the case specifically, but she must have accidentally marked the wrong box.
The Duval County Tax Collector’s Office declined to comment.
Usually, sex offenders and sex predators are identified when they bring in documents.
But the system doesn’t require documents, and when those boxes are checked, the system doesn’t alert the clerk.
Flaherty called John Phillips, a local attorney, to ask if he had a case.
“To me, it was a no-brainer,” Phillips said Tuesday. “Clearly, what was printed on his driver’s license was the worst thing one person could say about another person.”
Phillips said Flaherty mostly wanted the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to change its policy.
“It’s just a menu box that could be checked wrong,” Phillips said. “Oops, instead of insulin dependent or organ donor, you’re a sexual offender. That’s just outrageous.”
Flaherty was haunted by thoughts that people around him believed he was a sex offender, Phillips said. The fight was for a principle, Phillips said, not money.
“He was more concerned with effecting any change than getting any money,” Phillips said. “He lived a simple life. He had a little scooter. He liked to go fishing. It was a fairly simple life, but it was his life.
He had five heart stents, and he had a third heart attack last spring.
“You don’t want to go out like that,” Phillips said. “You don’t want to go out dealing with problems. ... Now people are questioning you. Whether it’s one person questioning you or a thousand, it just got into his psyche.”
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...ies-court-case-unsettled#.VLb-Y3CN3o4.twitter
He was divorced, diabetic and legally blind. He had suffered two heart attacks already when he moved to Jacksonville.
More than a year later, security officers stopped him at a Navy base where his brother worked. His Florida ID, they said, called him a sex offender, even though he wasn’t.
He sued the Duval County Tax Collector’s Office, alleging the office defamed him by issuing the wrong identification which he showed to others.
He died Sunday after suffering a heart attack. He didn’t live to see his lawsuit go to trial.
Flaherty said in a 2013 interview he never wanted the lawsuit to define him.
He said he was shy. He worried about first impressions. He worried everyone he met in Florida thought he was a sex offender. He worried no one would believe him.
“I’m going all over town saying, ‘Here, let me slander myself.’ It’s so funny, but it’s so freaking horrible. It’s — oh my God, how do you deal with that?”
When Flaherty went into a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles office on Blanding Boulevard and asked for a state ID card, the clerk faced a screen of yes-no options.
Organ donor. Insulin dependent. Florida resident. Sexual predator. Career offender. Sexual offender.
The clerk marked Flaherty as a sex offender, and his card printed.
The clerk testified in a deposition that she doesn’t remember the case specifically, but she must have accidentally marked the wrong box.
The Duval County Tax Collector’s Office declined to comment.
Usually, sex offenders and sex predators are identified when they bring in documents.
But the system doesn’t require documents, and when those boxes are checked, the system doesn’t alert the clerk.
Flaherty called John Phillips, a local attorney, to ask if he had a case.
“To me, it was a no-brainer,” Phillips said Tuesday. “Clearly, what was printed on his driver’s license was the worst thing one person could say about another person.”
Phillips said Flaherty mostly wanted the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to change its policy.
“It’s just a menu box that could be checked wrong,” Phillips said. “Oops, instead of insulin dependent or organ donor, you’re a sexual offender. That’s just outrageous.”
Flaherty was haunted by thoughts that people around him believed he was a sex offender, Phillips said. The fight was for a principle, Phillips said, not money.
“He was more concerned with effecting any change than getting any money,” Phillips said. “He lived a simple life. He had a little scooter. He liked to go fishing. It was a fairly simple life, but it was his life.
He had five heart stents, and he had a third heart attack last spring.
“You don’t want to go out like that,” Phillips said. “You don’t want to go out dealing with problems. ... Now people are questioning you. Whether it’s one person questioning you or a thousand, it just got into his psyche.”
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...ies-court-case-unsettled#.VLb-Y3CN3o4.twitter
