Opinion: The Dept. of Insurance arrested the wrong Maria Hernandez. It owes her more than an apology.

To the editor: I squirmed at the end of your story about the erroneous arrest of Maria Hernandez for insurance fraud because it was missing the most important part: a satisfying outcome, or at least an explanation. (“A woman was wrongfully arrested and jailed as a fraud suspect. The reason? Her name,” Aug. 22)

How is it that Hernandez and her family are left to fend for themselves financially after such an easily preventable mistake, carried out with sadistic prejudice? Extraordinary compensation should be automatic and mandatory in cases like this, with the goal of implementing predictable consequences for each incident of negligence when corporations collude with government to compromise the fragile equilibrium of an innocent person’s life.

Given all the tools law enforcement and insurance companies have at their fingertips, I can imagine hardly any scenario in which such treatment resulting from misidentification is excusable.

Government, businesses and individuals should all be held to account for their willful disruption of innocent lives.

Scott Rubel, Los Angeles

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To the editor: So California Department of Insurance officers not only wrongly arrested Hernandez, they also physically manhandled her and pointed a (presumably loaded) gun at her son when he asked for a copy of the arrest warrant.

Not only was this poor woman abused and traumatized, she is also obliged to pay back the bail bondsman and a hospital for the cost of treating her shock.

One can only hope that The Times’ article motivates an accomplished civil rights attorney to watch over Hernandez for some measure of justice and that the state’s Department of Insurance aggressively endeavors to protect us all against any similar avoidable debacle.

Konrad Moore, Bakersfield

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To the editor: It amazes me that officers and their ranking officials let a mistake of this magnitude go on this far.

I agree that having many “Maria Hernandezes” around Los Angeles presents a problem. However, according to the article, there were many oversights during the process that could have halted the error, including failing to fingerprint Hernandez and not noticing the fact that the two Hernandezes lived in different areas.

Most of the time these officers do a fine job of protecting the public, but this was a comedy of errors top to bottom. It not only caused humiliation to Hernandez but also financial expenses she could not afford.

I propose that the California Department of Insurance not only apologize but also reimburse all expenses incurred.

David Pearson, Inverness, Fla.

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