Atlanta Woman to Receive $1.5 Million After Wrongfully Spending Nearly Six Months in Jail
A federal jury in Atlanta has ruled that a Black transgender woman is due $1.5 million after she was wrongfully arrested and jailed over a jaywalking stop. The stop quickly turned into an arrest after officers issued a bogus charge of cocaine possession.
Ju’Zema Goldring was stopped by officers Vladimir Henry and Juan Restrepo in October 2015 over claims that she was jaywalking. In an interview about the incident, Goldring details that she was not jaywalking but rather at a curb with her friends when the officers approached her.
Goldring explained that when the officers approached her, they searched her purse and found a stress ball. After cutting up her stress ball, the officers detail finding what they described as a white substance. The officers conducted a field test on the substance and determined that it tested positive for cocaine.
Following her arrest, Goldring spent six months behind bars. In 2018, Golding filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against the city and the officer for her wrongful arrest. In her lawsuit, Goldring details that the officers used transgender slurs as they conducted an “invasive search” of her body. In her complaint, Goldring details that she thought the officers were joking when they said they found cocaine in her purse. After the officers arrested her and took her to the police station, Goldring recounts how she saw the officers test the stress ball several times. At one point, she heard one officer tell a “visibly frustrated” Officer Henry, “Give it up, buddy, it’s not a drug.”
The samples of the alleged cocaine were then sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for further examination. While the tests were being processed at the GBI, Goldring remained behind bars as she was unable to pay the $25,000 bond. Goldring stayed behind bars for five months and 12 days as a result of the arrest.
Judge William M. Ray II, who oversaw the lawsuit, detailed that the award would bring “some semblance of justice” to Goldring. In his opinion, Judge Ray wrote that there were “two seeming injustices that came to light at the trial.” He explained that the first injustice was related to testimony that depicted the police department had a history of arresting people for jaywalking, a practice which the judge described as troubling. Because jaywalking was such a low-level offense, an arrest could “seriously disrupt a person’s life.” The judge added that the officer's efforts could have been better spent on more pressing issues such as addressing violent crimes.
The second issue that was scrutinized by the judge was the Atlanta Police Department's practice of rewarding officers with points for issuing traffic citations, making arrests, and other actions. Judge Ray wrote that the practice of “such a system may create perverse incentives for officers.”
Goldring’s lawyers detail that as a result of her wrongful imprisonment, Goldring was put into a violent environment where she was the subject of unwanted sexual advances, despite being placed in a dorm for individuals who identify as transgender.
While the court has deemed that Goldring is entitled to $1.5 million, it's not yet clear how that amount will be paid. It is now up to Atlanta’s city council to authorize a settlement or judgment against the officer.
