City of Tulsa v. Clifford

The majority today adopts the holding under Hill v. California that the arrest of a person who is mistakenly thought to be someone else is valid if the arresting officer has probable cause to arrest the person sought, and he or she acted under a reasonable belief that the person arrested was the person sought. I cannot condone such a rule as it holds an inherent danger of abuse by police officers. Instead, I would adhere to the rule followed by Georgia, that an arrest warrant is valid only against the person named in it and that the warrant will not justify the arrest of a person other than…