A 35-year criminal defense attorney said Friday afternoon he's looking at his legal options after being handcuffed and paraded in front of his neighbors during a massive early-morning sting by law enforcement.
The problem: Authorities weren't looking for him. They were looking for his son, with whom he shares a name.
The other problem: That son, Charles David Ingles, has been dead for nearly seven years.
"When you hear your doorbell, you don't expect it to be anything, and then when you see police officers out there with guns drawn, saying 'Step out. You're under arrest. We have a warrant for you,' it's pretty unnerving," the 64-year-old attorney said.
Ingles said he understands that mistakes can happen -- he's seen a number of cases during his career where fathers and sons have the same name -- but said officers Friday morning should have known immediately they didn't have their man.
"They had [my son's] birth date... I'm 64. I have a different driver's license, different date of birth, different height, weight, different hair coloring. They absolutely knew it wasn't [me they were looking for]," he said.
The younger Charles David Ingles apparently was wanted on a misdemeanor obstruction of justice charge from McCook. Ingles said he explained to the officers that he knew nothing of the offense and that they had the wrong guy.
The officers ultimately let him go after providing them with his two sons' names and birth dates.
"They were looking at the warrant... they said, 'We're going to be able to settle this right here.' They knew that the warrant was for my son who had passed away," Ingles explained, adding that officers quickly left the area, never returning his driver's license.
"It was scary... it was embarrassing. My neighbors were all looking at me escorted out of my front door," he said.
"This is way out of line," said Ingles. "If they will do that to me, in the suburbs, who I am, imagine how they treat the minority people in the inner city."
UPDATE: Ingles late Friday evening received an apologetic telephone call from Orland Hills Police Chief Tim Scully, who heads South Suburban Association of Police Chiefs, the organization that conducted Friday morning's operation.
