A case of mistaken identity led to an unfortunate run-in between a police task force and a woman battling breast cancer after officers mistook her for a wanted fugitive – thanks in part to her shaved head.
Erin Peters, 35, was shopping at a Walmart in Post Falls, Idaho last Friday when she says a police officer grabbed her from behind and told her she was under arrest.
“I felt humiliated in front of Walmart, crying,” Peters told the Coeur d’Alene Press.
According to Peters, officers working with the FBI and the North Idaho Violent Crimes Task Force believed her to be 18-year-old Whitley Evenson, wanted in Missouri over allegations she suffocated her six-week-old child in 2015.
According to the Associated Press, police had received a tip that Evenson had shaved her head in order to try and evade identification by police.
Peters, who underwent a double mastectomy in August, says she started shaving her head while undergoing aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatment to battle her breast cancer.
“I honestly thought I was being mugged,” Peters told KHQ News in Idaho. “They accused me of murder. I heard them say ‘Whitley Evenson, you are under arrest for murder.’ I said ‘I’m not Whitley, please you’ve got the wrong person.’ I was then called a liar. Tears started rolling.”
READ MORE: Ryan Reynolds remembers cancer victim Connor McGrath in 14th birthday tribute
Peters said she tried to prove her innocence by showing officers her ID, but it wasn’t enough.
“They said flat out, identify theft isn’t that hard,” Peters said. “I couldn’t have been more shocked. They tightened the cuffs.”
Peters was detained and questioned for approximately 45 minutes before police realized the error and let her go. While officers apologized to Peters, she says it’s not enough.
“The way they went about this was so wrong,” Peters said.
However, FBI spokesman Richard Collodi is defending the decision to detain Peters, saying police were acting on a tip that Evenson, along with a male accomplice, was expected to be at the Post Falls Walmark that day.
Officers arrested Evenson later that same day, in the same parking lot where Peters was questioned. She will be extradited back to Missouri where she faces second-degree murder charges in the death of her child.
Collodi says that while he regrets the inconvenience to Peters, criminals often come up with creative excuses to try and fool law enforcement and the extra caution was warranted.
“I’m confident she was treated professionally,” Collodi told the Associated Press.