ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis man is now free after he claims police wrongly arrested him on Friday.
"They were wrong this morning. They were very wrong," said Terrell Beasley.
Beasley said a case of mistaken identity caused St. Louis police officers to put him in handcuffs.
"I'm like, 'man what are you guys locking me up for?' You know what I'm saying, and he was like 'it was a high-speed chase' or something, and I'm like 'what that got to do with me?'" said Beasley.
His dramatic arrest was caught on Sky5 after a car stolen from Belleville crashed near his home on Lee Street in St. Louis.
Police said the suspect ran away. And when police arrived not too long after, Beasley said he was arrested.
But Beasley said all he was doing was warming up his car.
"Like, you gonna lock somebody up, ain't no white folk around here."
Beasley said he was taken to the 6th Precinct headquarters, where he sat for two hours as officers fingerprinted him and he faced charges of tampering and fleeing the scene.
"It's crazy that you think a 50-year-old man would have just been in a high-speed chase, an accident, and have no abrasions or have anything. And I'm steady telling you where I came from and you steady telling me what you think."
St. Louis police sent us this in response to Beasley's arrest:
"A subject was taken into custody, however officers were unable to determine if it was the same subject that fled the stolen vehicle in the 4400 block of Lee. As such, he was released without charges."
Beasley said they also apologized before taking him back to his car.
"It was a dry apology. I'm sorry, what's that? We'll take you back to your car? How can I accept your apology?" Beasley said. "I can't accept your apology."
No suspects have been arrested or charged in connection with the stolen vehicle from Belleville. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
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