Members of Congress are demanding the Department of Justice inspector general review a case in which the U.S. Marshals Service pulled guns on an innocent woman, berated and screamed at her, arrested her and jailed her overnight.
They had been looking for a different woman, but attacked Penny McCarthy in an incident that is on video reports now:
The letter demanding a review was sent to Inspector General Michael Horowitz by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.
“We are very concerned at both the USMS’s carelessness and the excessive force during this encounter. The USMS’s lack of regard for Ms. McCarthy’s due process rights is very troubling and oversight is necessary to ensure similar abuses do not happen in the future. Part of the stated mission of the Department of Justice (DOJ) OIG is to ‘review the programs and personnel’ of the USMS,” the letter said.
The members of Congress outlined the stunningly troubling facts at hand:
“On March 5, 2024, six United States Marshals Service (USMS) agents pulled into the driveway of 66-year-old Phoenix, Arizona resident Penny McCarthy with their guns drawn demanding that she ‘get her hands up.’ The USMS agents insisted that McCarthy was really a fugitive who had violated probation in 1999 after committing several non-violent crimes. The agents threatened Ms. McCarthy and denied her an opportunity to prove her identity. While the USMS has initiated a review of this apparent misconduct, we write to request that the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conduct a thorough and independent investigation of this incident,” they wrote.
From publicly available information, it appears that the USMS violated Ms. McCarthy’s constitutional rights during the arrest. After six agents surprised Ms. McCarthy at her home screaming at her to ‘get her hands up,’ she understandably asked if they had the right individual. At that point, the USMS agents screamed at her to ‘tum around,’ threatening her ‘you’re going to get hit.’ Video footage shows that Ms. McCarthy cooperated during the encounter, despite threats of being tased. Ms. McCarthy asked to see proof that the agents were law enforcement but the agents denied her request. The agents insisted Ms. McCarthy was a nonviolent fugitive from Oklahoma named Carole Anne Rozak. Ms. McCarthy offered to provide proof she was not Ms. Rozak, but federal agents refused. The USMS booked Ms. McCarthy in federal prison overnight and she was released the next day. A federal judge subsequently dismissed the case shortly thereafter. The USMS only admitted its misidentification after a local news channel conducted a thorough investigation. The body camera footage was not released until six months after the incident through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Although the USMS claims it is conducting a review of the actions taken by their agents, an internal review is not enough.
The members of Congress cited the officers’ “carelessness and the excessive force during this encounter.”
The letter instructs, “Please confirm that you will examine this encounter as soon as possible but no later than December 2, 2024.”
