Cops Falsely Arrest Innocent Black Teacher After Fingerprinting the Real Suspect

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]A black teacher gets fired after being charged for a crime he never committed and the officers fingerprinted the proper individual. Put it up full mass. This is a hell of a story.

[00:00:16]According to Atlanta Black Star in North Carolina Kendrick Gonzalez on the left, Mr. Gonzalez was fired from his job after a childhood friend and I'm utilizing the word friend loosely.

[00:00:33]Kamadric Sherrod on the right used his name during a felony arrest.

[00:00:42]However Charlotte Mecklenburg police and prosecutors failed to correct the lie in the system after they fingerprinted and identified Mr. Sherrod leading Mr. Gonzalez the teacher to lose his job.

[00:01:08]The irony of this.

[00:01:11]So a guy who is allegedly a childhood friend from the same hood he gets caught up he remembers, oh, I have a friend who's a school teacher, teacher likely doesn't have a criminal record let me mess his life up.

[00:01:30]So he gives the school teacher's name.

[00:01:33]Well, that doesn't help him because he's being fingerprinted, bang out.

[00:01:36]But once they identify that the individual is actually Mr. Sherrod and not Mr. Gonzalez they don't bother, and when I say they, the police department nor the DA they don't bother to update the system in order to correct the false identity.

[00:01:57]So what happens? Here he is. Mr. Gonzales, a black man with a clean criminal record, was working his dream job as a school teacher and coach in 2023.

[00:02:13]When he received a call from human resources informing him he was being fired for having been arrested on several felonies, including breaking and entering and possession of heroin.

[00:02:29]The 38-year-old Jewish Army veteran remained unemployed for a year after being terminated from the middle school where he had been working for only a short period.

[00:02:42]Was rejected for more than 100 jobs and came close to losing the home he shared with his wife. Turns out it was a childhood friend with a long criminal record who used his name after being arrested for breaking into a hotel.

[00:03:01]A man named Kamadric Sherrod, who did not look anything like the teacher, Mr. Gonzales, other than the fact they both have, well, black skin.

[00:03:16]A detail noted in the police report.

[00:03:20]Mr. Sherrod, whose life took a completely different path into adulthood compared to Mr. Gonzales, has a long history of arrests dating back to 2008 when he was arrested for felony possession of cocaine.

[00:03:35]The career criminal did not have identification on him and initially told police his name was Khalil Wiggins, giving a date of birth of October 11th, 1984.

[00:03:46]But officers apparently did not believe him.

[00:03:49]So, then he said, "Well, my name is uh is that Kendred Gonzalez. Yes, that's my actual name, Kendred Gonzalez. So police remain skeptical because when they compared driver's license photos of the two men they look nothing alike. Now these are investigators, okay?

[00:04:07]Quote, officers were able to locate this name and date of birth but did not believe the photo provided the DMV matched the male.

[00:04:14]End quote, one of the officers wrote on the arrest sheet according to WRAL News.

[00:04:20]They also fingerprinted him at the jail.

[00:04:22]Which apparently revealed his true identity.

[00:04:25]But police did not make the correction in the system. Now I want us to zoom out just for a moment.

[00:04:35]Let me tell you the reason why we're able to talk about this story.

[00:04:40]Because it made the news.

[00:04:42]Because Mr. Gonzalez happens to be a teacher.

[00:04:46]And had something awful happen to him.

[00:04:48]But this happens all the time.

[00:04:51]Now we know why it happened. How many times have you personally heard about somebody being arrested or perhaps being accused of something based on mistaken identity?

[00:05:05]Based on what somebody else said uh their name was in some type of police interaction.

[00:05:12]Well, if that has ever happened, that means that the police did not do their due diligence in order to correct the record so that the person with that name whatever name was given would not have a criminal penalty affixed to them as well.

[00:05:29]Police officers routinely, unfortunately, do not do the rest of their job when something like this happens.

[00:05:38]When somebody provides a false identity.

[00:05:42]They are revealed for who they truly are. False identity has to now be corrected in the system. There's a process, a procedure in order to protect the innocent black man who was named.

[00:05:56]There's more. When Mr. Sherrod pled guilty two weeks later his real name was listed in court documents along with his previous criminal history, but somehow the guilty plea was recorded under the name Gonzalez. Now, this is squarely a DA issue.

[00:06:20]This is the district attorney.

[00:06:22]Even the judge had their doubts. Quote Magistrate Penny Lidel noted that there was uncertainty of the identity of Mr. Sherrod on the magistrate's finding of fact form.

[00:06:36]The claim states, Gonzalez ended up being fired. It took nine months before the false record against him was expunged.

[00:06:43]Gonzalez eventually found a job at a daycare as an after-school teacher and a van driver.

[00:06:49]But the man who graduated with a degree in education longs to return to the school system and we hope he does quickly.

[00:06:56]Quote I went to school to teach K through 12, not to work in a daycare center, Gonzalez told WCNC.

[00:07:03]I want things to be made right.

[00:07:06]Now Gonzalez is suing the three officers who arrested Mr. Sherrod. Those officers are named Aubrey Goldagger Eric Wagner and Lu Vang as well as the city of Charlotte accusing the defendants of malicious prosecution and gross negligence.

[00:07:31]Um the first officer, Goldagger, was arrested for a DWI in 2014 while employed for the police department. Um now it's going to be a difficult case to argue of malicious prosecution, but you definitely can argue gross negligence and a few other elements that obviously uh if they would have followed protocol, Mr. Gonzalez never would have been caught up in this.

[00:07:59]I bring this story to your attention because it highlights an administrative issue that police officers are supposed to do routinely because if the cops do the part they're supposed to do, it never makes it to the DA.

[00:08:12]Okay? It never goes beyond that if they would have corrected the record at that time.

[00:08:18]I know personally individuals who have been pulled over, they get arrested, they have no idea why they're getting arrested. They have a warrant because according to the cop, they didn't show up for court.

[00:08:31]What you mean I didn't show up for court?

[00:08:33]I don't have a summons for court. I don't have a ticket outstanding. Well, somebody gave their name to a cop, got a ticket, and never went to court.

[00:08:42]And all of a sudden, that warrant is affixed to that name.

[00:08:47]That happens routinely. In this case, the individual arrested was arrested for significantly serious charges and then pleaded guilty to to those charges. The HR director at the school had no choice but to fire Mr. Gonzalez because according to the HR director, you have a convicted felon with children right now in your school.

[00:09:14]All because of the lack of administrative prowess of the officers of law.

[00:09:24]And I wonder, do they not correct the record because they figure one black man and another black man blamed them, don't matter to them? All right, bring thoughts.

[00:09:36]>> Yeah, I mean, these are the correct questions to ask and it's just, you know, I think we need to institute in our criminal justice system, or not that's not even the criminal justice system, in our law enforcement system, the same premise of innocent until proven guilty to a degree. I mean, obviously you need to be able to, you know, talk to somebody before you can corroborate information, but once you do, presumption of innocence um should be a fundamental part of rights in this country and furthermore, when a mistake is made, when somebody's life is even at the risk of potentially becoming an issue that affects their livelihood, that affects their reputation, that affects their lives, you're there to serve the public. You're protecting and serving. You need to be there to protect and serve those people and the moment a fact comes to light that shows how badly you messed up, you must take any and all actions in that moment to correct it. If you do not, then you are valuing the lives of certain people very differently than you would value people that are maybe more similar to you than you would value your own.

[00:10:57]And I'm sorry, this is death by a thousand cuts of our humanity.

[00:11:05]We need to have an unwavering dedication to our common humanity, to our common citizenry and to have a just an energy across this nation that we seem to be lacking a lot lately from the institutions of power that make very clear that we are all on the same team.

[00:11:30]And >> Ross, I >> I don't feel that in all of these instances and we must change that.

[00:11:39]Well said, brother.