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DC firefighter released after Fairfax County police found illegal

A former DC firefighter was released from prison Wednesday after evidence emerged that a Fairfax County official lied about the cause of a traffic obstruction.

Elon Wilson, a black father and a respected member of his community, was released Wednesday after nearly two years in prison. Judge Daniel Ortiz threw back Wilson’s conviction, writing, “Friday’s false statements undermined the integrity of the judiciary in the eyes of the public and left a man in prison for nearly two years,” according to NBC Washington.

“What happened in this case exposed a failure in our criminal justice system,” added Ortiz. “When the rules work together, they turn the judicial machinery towards justice. Instead, this officer’s misrepresentations have perturbed the whole mechanism. “

Former Fairfax County Police Officer Jonathan Freitag who stopped Wilson resigned and is currently under investigation by the FBI. Friday is accused of creating race profiles and lying in the police report he submitted.

Wilson was pulled over Friday morning one April 2018. Wilson and a passenger were searched and an officer found 450 OxyContin pills and two guns. The stop resulted in Wilson being sentenced to more than three years in prison.

According to the Washington Post, Friday’s police report said he ran Wilson over after crossing the yellow line, took too long after Friday turned the lights on, and had illegally tinted windows. Friday added that he smelled marijuana, which resulted in his searching the car.

Wilson said the pills and guns belonged to his passenger, but prosecutors threatened Wilson with a decade in prison for distributing drugs and carrying a gun. With a daughter and a family to think about, Wilson signed a three-year deal.

In August 2019, Fairfax County Police received a complaint on Friday and began reviewing its traffic stops. Within a month, Friday was taken off the road and all of its traffic stops were checked with prosecutors to announce that an investigation was underway around Friday

Friday served two years before the FBI investigated him, and last summer the Fairfax County Police Department attempted to fire him on the grounds of sloppy traffic stops and bad reports. However, Freitag resigned in May under an agreement that none of the internal affairs files should be included in his personnel file.

Friday was not charged with any crime for his actions.