One man is suing a defamation suit against an Florida sheriff who publishes regularly “Wheel of Fugitive” videos on social media. The lawsuit claims that he was not the fugitive when his name and picture were featured several times in sheriff’s posts influenced by the long-running TV series “Wheel of Fortune.”
Due to the sheriff’s posts, David Gay lost a job and experienced emotional distress, as per the lawsuit that seeks greater than $50,000 in compensation. The suit was filed this week in the state court in Brevard County, along Florida’s Space Coast.
Gay’s potential boss called him while the driver was heading for his day of work , and advised him to not bother attending because he’d observed Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey’s “Wheel of Fugitive” videos The lawsuit stated.
A representative from the sheriff’s office Monday didn’t reply to an email inquiry for information on the lawsuit.
In the videos that have been posted to social networks, Ivey spins a wheel containing images of what are described as the 10 most wanted criminals in the county.
“Everybody watch the show. Even fugitives are watching it” to see who will be the “fugitive of the week,”” It was reported by the Associated Press reported Ivey said.
Gay was a defendant in the justice system for an unidentified incident which was subsequently sentenced November of 2020 to probation for three years for a denial of adjudication, which is a sentence where a defendant is not legally found guilty of an offence in the lawsuit.
Gay was arrested for violating probation in January 2021 following his arrest a few weeks prior to that for a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. He claims that he believed that his father got into an argument with his mother. the case was eventually dismissed.
But, when Gay had been in prison for violating the terms of probation, Ivey said in a “Wheel of Fugitive” video that Gay was a fugitive however, Gay was already in the Brevard County Jail, according to the lawsuit.
Gay was included in three more episode in the series “Wheel of Fugitive,” which included the day following his probation was imposed with the same conditions that was previously imposed, and released from jail in the lawsuit.
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