Aggravated Assault False Allegations Destroy GA Man’s Life

The former owner of an interior design business in Duluth, Georgia–north of Atlanta–is struggling to put his life back together after a social worker falsely accused him of aggravated assault. Incredibly, since he was finally cleared in January, nothing more has come of this case–even though at last report he was homeless and living out of his vehicle.

John Blue in front of his former business (courtesy WGCL-TV)
John Blue in front of the Gwinnett County Courthouse (courtesy WGCL-TV)

John Blue told WGCL-TV in Atlanta that he had just gotten home from picking up his two sons at their mother’s house when a woman rolled up near him and started beating on his window saying, “You can’t go nowhere with these kids–I need to talk to them.” Blue thought the woman looked like a “crackhead” and a “junkie.”? He did what anyone should do in a similar situation–he told her no and tried to drive away. But, he said, the woman rammed into his van before he could get to safety.

Later that day, Blue was surprised to find out he was a wanted man. It turned out the woman was a child protection worker with the Gwinnett County Division of Children and Family Services, and she had come to serve Blue with a court order to surrender his two sons, 10-year-old Zailan and 14-year-old Jaquez, to the state over claims that he was abusing them. Police issued a statewide Levi’s Call–Georgia’s version of an Amber Alert–for the boys, who by this time were with their grandparents in Greenville, South Carolina for summer vacation.

Blue turned himself in to police in Norcross, and got another surprise–he was arrested on charges of aggravated assault. The DFCS worker claimed that Blue had bundled the boys into his van when she came to serve the order, and then rammed her car when she tried to block him in. Blue was stunned; not only did he say that the woman rammed him, but he added that she never identified herself as working for the state.

Blue’s sons and girlfriend both insisted that Blue did nothing wrong. However, no one listened, and as a result Blue sat in jail without bond for seven months. According to Blue, Zailan asked him, “Daddy, we have told all these people the truth–why are you still in jail?” When the case finally went to trial in January, a jury took only 45 minutes to acquit him on all charges. He was released a week later, only to find his life in a shambles. He’d lost his apartment, his interior design business, and nearly all of his belongings. He was reduced to living out of his van while he looks for work.

At last report, Blue was still trying to get custody of his sons, who are living with relatives out of state. He also wants the social worker brought up on charges for ramming his van. Blue was being very restrained. Take your pick–perjury, false reporting, child endangerment? Incredibly, DFCS refused to comment on any specifics, but did say the social worker was still on the payroll at the time.

Blue was released in January. Since then, there has been nothing, nada, zip, zero, bupkis about this case until Raw Story’s writeup of this crawled across my Facebook feed. I hope this is because Blue’s attorneys and the state are in settlement talks. That’s about the only good-faith explanation I can think of for why there has been no further word. If that’s the case, one demand that Blue’s team ought to make non-negotiable is that the caseworker personally apologizes to him–after she is fired. After all, there is no defensible reason for letting someone hold a position of public trust after falsely accusing someone of aggravated assault–or ANY felony, for that matter.

Blue’s ordeal resonates a lot with me, since I had my life thrown into a tailspin after being framed on bogus charges. Many of you know that my ex-wife’s son beat me up on the day I finally left her. My ex retaliated by falsely accusing me of making a girl staying with us watch X-rated movies and threatening to beat her up if she told anyone about it. For five months, I was on pretrial release, and had to call in every Monday. She never showed up for court–most likely because someone told her she’d be facing charges of perjury and subornation of perjury if she peddled her story in court. Indeed, my attorney–a former prosecutor here in Charlotte–knew withing five minutes of hearing my story that it was retaliation. But no one bothered to do more digging beforehand. I never have gotten the chance to see her held to account for essentially abusing me all over again. So I’m really hoping Blue does get justice–for both his sake and that of his sons.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.