14 Days in Jail For a Mistake

Michael Brewer spent 14 days in jail for a crime that was never even committed.

I was in jail exactly 14 days and then they released me and put me on an ankle monitor for another two weeks.

He goes to a local gun store to buy a gun, but he gets jail instead. The gun shop does the routine background check of his criminal record but something goes wrong. Apparently there was a mistake in his criminal record making it look like he wasn't allowed to touch or purchase a gun even though he actually was. Convicted felons are generally prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms federally,

as well as in every state, including Florida.

Do you understand how scary it is to not be a felon? And then you get arrested as a felon? Like, so in the state of Florida,

thinks I'm a felon?

That's crazy.

How could they f*** up that bad?

Mm-hmm. That's crazy. How could they f**k up that bad? I don't know. A lawsuit has been filed. Michael himself, along with his lawyer, are here to tell us exactly what happened.

I think misdemeanor versus felony for like anyone that's been in law enforcement for any length of time knows or should know the difference.

They knew very early on there was a mistake, that I was innocent, and there was no like, you know, sense of urgency, just leave me in jail. It didn't matter about my family, it didn't matter about my job, it didn't matter that I wasn't even a violent person or had a real criminal record at all.

This is a system that the government holds over all of our heads. Every time we get pulled over, every time we do anything, they run our criminal backgrounds, which can be full of mistakes. Every time that they do this, they're fully prepared to arrest us if those reports give them that option.

I've got my real estate license. I mean, just please.

You know what I'm saying, man?

I'm sorry.

You can't be a felony. You can't be a felony.

Even worse, once presented with the evidence by Williams' lawyer that no felony conviction existed out of Kentucky, they apparently just ignored it. And they just let Williams sit in jail longer, where he remained there for a total of 14 days.

While I was sitting in jail, I mean, I kept asking myself, like, why are they not, like, letting me out? Because I'm on the phone with my family attorneys and they're saying, we've given the documents and I'm just sitting in jail and I just can't get out. And every day I'm being told, you know, you know, they're going to, they're going to let you out. They're going to let you out. I mean, every single day I'm thinking I'm getting you out. They're going to let you out. I mean, every single day I'm thinking I'm getting

out and they just wouldn't release me. And, and I just think that's, I think that's horrible.