Columbia County Sheriff
A legally blind U.S. Navy veteran who was jailed overnight last year after cops mistook his mobility cane for a handgun, is now suing the two officers who locked him up—one of whom was demoted over the incident—for violating his civil rights.
“I can function to where people are like, ‘Man, you’re lying, you ain’t disabled,’” James Hodges told The Daily Beast. “I’ve had a lot of practice, and a lot of fighting in rehab, so I do my orientation in mobility a lot better than a lot of people think I ought to be able to.”
Authorities offered Hodges a payout of $7,500 “to sweep it all under the rug,” he alleged, calling the arrest—which made national news last year— “bogus.” “It was insane from its conception,” he added.