12/04/2023
The following was sent to us by a follower regarding Ludowici police.
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So I’m not one to usually post my business on FB but I am so mad and I want everyone to know how crooked the officials of Ludowici Ga are. On April 15th my husband was arrested for a “DUI” while coming home from work. He had worked a 17 hour shift and stopped at the Circle K in Ludowici to get gas. He pumped his gas and got back in his truck to come home. When he went to start his truck back it shut off so he started it again and revved his engine. Two cops were already there arresting another person, one cop walked over to him and wanted to know what he was doing, Ben told him that his truck had shut off and he was just trying to go home. The cop then proceeded to ask him what drugs or alcohol had he consumed that night, Ben informed him that he was coming from work and that he was sober. The officer did not believe him and had him step out his truck. Ben told him that he could do a sobriety test, breathalyzer, blood test, or hair follicle test that he doesn’t drink or do drugs and again that he was sober. He proceeded to do the field sobriety test and said that because he wasn’t able to stay balanced on one foot that he must be messed up on something. Ben told him that was ridiculous to give him a breathalyzer but the officer refused and said that he was going to take him to have his boood drawn. He put him in handcuffs, placed him in the back of the police truck and proceeded to go talk to the other officer for an hour while my husband sat handcuffed in the back of his truck. When he finally decided he had Ben sit in the hot truck long enough he took him to the ambulance station and had his blood drawn. After that the officer drove 91 miles an hour to take him to the Hinesville jail where he had to stay until 1:00 the next day. I was on the phone with Ben when he got to the gas station to get gas. He said he was getting gas and then coming straight home. Imagine the panic I felt when after an hour he still wasn’t home and wouldn’t answer my call. We have life 360 so I knew he was still at circle K but could not figure out why he wasn’t answering my call. After hours of worrying I looked up the Circle K number and called and was told by the clerk that he just watched a tow truck pick my husband’s truck up and him be arrested. I called the Ludowici police department where the lady informed me that he had been arrested for DUI. My mind was BLOWN, I had just talked to him and knew he wasn’t drinking or messed up on drugs. Of course I immediately left and went to Hinseville to get him where I was informed it would be the next day before I could bail him out. When he was finally released and I was able to pick him up we went and got his truck from the tow company and finally went home. Fast forward to a few weeks before his court date of September 7th and we had still not heard anything regarding his blood test results. I took it upon myself to call the Ludowici police department to see if his results were in and it just so happened that they were. I had to send an email for them to be released to us so we could pick them up. Of course once we got them EVERYTHING WAS NEGATIVE. No alcohol, drugs, NOTHING. After getting his results I called the police department again to see if we still had to go to court and they informed us that he in fact did still have to miss work to go to court. So on September 7th we both took off and went to court. When his name was finally called and we were able to speak with the prosecutor he asked how did Ben plead and he said not guilty, I told the prosecutor that we had his negative results and he informed us that his arresting officer wasn’t their and this was only an arraignment so the results didn’t matter at that time. Fast forward to November 2nd were we both missed work again for court. We went to court where we were finally able to show the negative results and PROVE that he had been FALSELY arrested. Since then I have called the Ludowici police chief multiple times to see about getting a refund for the money we lost. I finally was able to speak to him today were he basically said to bad that since we used a bondsman we will not get our money back and there was nothing he could do to refund us for having to get his truck out of impound. We are out $850 for the bondsman and $300 for his truck being towed and we get NOTHING BACK. So it’s okay for you to be falsely accused and arrested, have to pay over $1000 (not counting money we lost for missing work) and were just supposed to except it because police are human and they “make mistakes too”?! I understand about him being arrested, if you are driving under the influence you deserve to be but once it was proven that he was sober we should have received some sort of compensation not just a “to bad sorry you were the unfortunate ones who were actually sober”. I am just so frustrated about the situation and wanted to know if anyone else on here has had something like this happen to them and how they handled it. Also, I have no doubt had it not been for me calling and getting his results his charges would have remained and he would now have a DUI on his record. I can’t imagine the number of people who have also been falsely arrested in Ludowici and charged with DUI and didn’t know you could get the results yourself. Another thing is how is it okay for him to drive 91 mph to take him to jail? Anyone else driving that fast would be arrested or pulled over but since he was an officer it’s okay? The police that arrested him was at court the second time and couldn’t even bother apologizing to Ben. I just can’t wrap my mind around the fact that the ones that are paid to serve and protect us are also the ones who feel as though the laws don’t apply to them and that they can just do whatever they please because they have a badge. This entire situation has really changed my opinion on our country’s legal system and those who “protect” us. The picture is proof of him driving 91 to take him to jail.
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We reached out to the Ludowici Police chief but have yet to hear back.
