Wrong brother arrested, jailed for 2 days, suit says

The Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office is being sued by a man who said he was arrested and jailed for two days after being mistaken for his brother, who had a warrant for his arrest.

Lawyers for Michael Markham Jr. said he was mistaken by Alameda County deputies for his brother, Marlon Markham — despite the fact that Michael Markham is two years older, 5 inches shorter and 50 pounds lighter than his brother, who had a warrant for his arrest on a grand theft charge out of Shasta County.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accuses the sheriff ’s office and the deputies who pulled over, arrested and processed Markham of failing to adequately make sure they were arresting the correct person. It also accuses the deputies of improperly searching Markham’s car.

The incident happened Jan. 3, 2020, according to Markham’s complaint, which was filed in federal court Tuesday.

Markham was working as a DoorDash driver near Oakland International Airport when he was pulled over for a traffic infraction by Deputy Ryan Henrioulle, according to Markham’s lawyer, Sanjay Schmidt.

Markham gave Henrioulle his ID, according to the lawsuit. After confirming Markham’s ID was valid, he ran it for warrants, the lawsuit said. Henrioulle was told of a possible felony warrant for his arrest out of Redding. Minutes later, he learned the subject of the warrant was Marlon Markham, his brother.

The lawsuit said Henrioulle did not check with dispatch or with the Redding Police Department about identifiers on the warrant — including the subject’s height and weight — nor did he look up Marlon Markham’s booking picture using a criminal database.

“There is no excuse, in this day and age, with the technology we have available, that this should happen,” Schmidt said.

The Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Michael Markham was arrested and taken to the Santa Rita Jail,. He told deputies several times that they had the wrong person. Henrioulle and other deputies then searched Markham’s car without a warrant before having it towed, according to the complaint.

Markham was released two days later after borrowing money from a friend to post bail, according to the lawsuit.