—“Born Under A Bad Sign” by Booker T. Jones and William Bell

 

Being persons of mistaken identity has made life intolerable for Diana Pierre-Louis of New Orleans as well as for an elderly couple caught up in the Trayvon Martin killing controversy.

 

Pierre-Louis’ dilemma originated with Sprint, which she sued after the company mistakenly programmed cell phones with tracking devices that led customers to her doorstep. The plaintiff claims she has been hounded by “infuriated” people, including a police officer, looking for their lost cell phones, believing she stole them.

 

Meanwhile, in Florida, David and Elaine McClain, a husband and wife in their seventies, had to move out of their home and into a hotel after someone posted their address on Twitter, all because of the misguided belief that George Zimmerman, the man who killed Trayvon Martin, lived at the residence. The couple has a son named William George Zimmerman who last lived at his parents’ address in 1995.

 

The couple “received hate mail, unwanted visits from reporters and fearful inquiries from neighbors,” according to the Orlando Sentinel.

 

The mistake became magnified after filmmaker Spike Lee retweeted the couple’s address to his followers. Lee later issued an apology and asked people to stop harassing the couple.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Bizarre Cellphone Mix-Up Rattles Family (by Sabrina Canfield, Courthouse News Service)

Diana Pierre-Louis v. Sprint (Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans) (pdf)

GPS Tracks Missing Phones To Wrong House (WDSU.com)

Elderly Couple Abandon Their Home After Address Is Posted on Twitter as That of George Zimmerman (by Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel)