A Georgia man lost custody of his two sons, his business, his apartment, most of his belongings, and seven months of his life when he was jailed for allegedly attacking a social worker.
John Blue was acquitted in January, after he was held without bond for more than a half a year in the Gwinnett County Jail, when a Division of Family and Children Services employee crashed into his van but accused him of attacking her, reported WSB-TV.
The social worker had gone to Blue's home to serve a court order to take the boys, ages 14 and 10, into state custody over an abuse claim.
She claimed Blue loaded the boys into his van and tried to drive away, but she attempted to block him in.
The caseworker told police that Blue rammed her car repeatedly before driving off, but Blue said she crashed into him and never identified herself as a state employee.
"She looked like she was a crackhead," Blue told WGCL-TV. "She walked over, she beat on the window. She never identified herself. She never says nothing to me. She says, 'You can't go nowhere with those kids -- I need to talk to them.' I don't know who this lady is. She looked like a junkie to me, so I told her no."
Duluth police issued an Amber Alert for the two boys, saying he had abducted them and placed them in extreme danger.
Blue said he was not aware of the alert and did not realize he was wanted when he gave the boys to his father for a planned trip to South Carolina, but he turned himself in to police after learning of the allegations.
"That was the worst mistake I made," Blue said. "I thought I could clear it all up. I was trying to do the right thing by the law, (but) they didn't do nothing right by me. I end up sitting in jail and being prosecuted and nobody cared."
The 55-year-old Blue’s sons and his girlfriend told police that he had not attacked the caseworker.
"My baby said, "Daddy, we have told all these people the truth -- why are you still in jail?’" Blue said. “The one thing I teach my sons is, if you are telling the truth you don't have to worry or care about nothing else -- as long as you are telling the truth there is nothing bad that can happen to you.”
Blue said the caseworker lied to police, and a jury took only 45 minutes to acquit him of all charges.
He would like to see the DFCS worker tried for ramming his car, and he said her employer knows she lied about the alleged assault.
“I sat in jail for seven months because someone lied on me,” Blue said. “If I was charged with aggravated assault and didn’t do anything, let her stand before the same people.”
A DFCS representative said the caseworker is still employed by the agency but declined further comment.
Blue – who lost his interior design business and home while awaiting trial and now lives in the same van the caseworker crashed into – is fighting to regain custody of his sons, who are living with relatives out of state.
“My kids have never wanted for anything,” Blue said. “This is not fair, not right -- my family has been destroyed.”
Watch this video report posted online by WSB-TV:
