LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Lexington Police Department is reviewing an incident where a man and a woman were detained by mistake Tuesday afternoon.
According to a release from the department, an employee at the Chase Bank in the Zandale Shopping Center called police just before 3 p.m. on June 12 to report a white man who had tried to cash some fraudulent savings bonds. The employee said this was the sixth Chase Bank the man had visited that day. An alert was sent out to officers in the area to be on the lookout for a white man driving a black Chrysler.
Fifteen minutes after the alert was issued, officers were notified of a white man that was attempting to redeem several thousand dollars in savings bonds at a Chase Bank branch on Richmond Road. Lexington officers and a Kentucky State Police trooper arrived at the bank and, believing the man was the suspect in the other incidents, detained him and a woman who was waiting for him in a car. During the incident, officers took both individuals to the ground and placed them in handcuffs, according to the release.
Over the next 30 minutes, other officers and detectives from the Financial Crimes Unit arrived on the scene. The officers determined that two people they arrested, identified by their attorney as Preston Slone and Elena Perez, were not the suspects connected to the fraudulent transactions. The savings bonds Slone had tried to redeem were eventually returned to Slone’s attorney.
“Lexington Police recognizes that Mr. Slone and Ms. Perez had an unusual and alarming encounter with police. We regret any fear, anxiety, and injuries this incident caused them,” Brenna Angel, the Public Information Officer for Lexington Police Department, said in the release.
The department is reviewing the officers’ actions. Dispatch audio and body camera video of the incident will be released to the public.
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