Found Not Guilty After Jury Trial In Georgia. Body Cam Has Officer Saying I Had No Warrant And “i’ll Get Him On Something Else.” Do I Possibly Have A Civil Case?

Location: Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia.

Back in 10/2022 I got arrested and charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor disorderly conduct. I took it all the way to a jury trial and in 09/2024 I was found not guilty on everything.

Claim: I’m trying to figure out if I may have any kind of civil case now, whether that is false arrest, malicious prosecution, §1983, or something else. I know being found not guilty does not automatically mean the arrest was illegal.

Event: What happened was me, my girlfriend, my mom, and my mom’s friend had gone to a concert. We had been drinking and my mom was very drunk. We took an Uber home, but my mom started arguing with the driver and we got kicked out before we got back to the house.

While walking home I realized I left my phone in the Uber. I saw the Uber again, waved her down, apologized for what happened, and asked if I could check for my phone. She said no and said I could get it from the police when they got there.

My girlfriend and I went home. A few minutes later we went back out because I was worried about my mom and her friend. When we found them, they were already talking to police.

key Detail: Here is the part that makes me think something was wrong. My mom was drunk and mistakenly told police that I had a warrant. She meant I was on probation in another county. Later on the police video, one officer says something like, “I searched him, he doesn’t have a warrant.” Then the arresting officer says, “Don’t worry, I’ll get him on something else.”

Right after that, the officer asked for my name and DOB, then arrested me, put me in handcuffs, and put me in the back of the car. I later got charged with felony false imprisonment and disorderly conduct.

I bonded out after about 10 hours, but because I was already on misdemeanor pretrial diversion/probation in Forsyth for a marijuana case, this arrest caused problems there too. I ended up doing about 16 days in jail there, had probation extended, had to pay more money, and had to do random drug screens for a long time.

The Cherokee case dragged on for about 2 years and I was eventually found not guilty on all charges.

This whole thing cost me my job, hurt future job opportunities, and messed up my life pretty badly.

Based on that body cam statement and the acquittal, does this sound like something a Georgia civil rights lawyer might actually look at as a possible case, or is it still probably not enough?

Happy to clarify, just trying not to post too many identifying details.

Edit: I have gone back and forth about this. I shouldve pursued earlier but it is so painful for me to look back I would rather move forward. But now that I have had time to rebuild my life. I would like to see if there is anything there to pursue and how I would go about it.

Thanks!