A Chicago man says he was pulled over dozens of times over 15 years because he has the same name and birthday as a wanted man. 

Darren Cole filed a lawsuit against the city for the arrests to stop after being thrown in jail multiple times. 

According to CBS Chicago, Cole’s lawyers said it would not have taken much for the Chicago Police Department to put a note in their system to stop the arrests. 

The 50-year old said he’s been arrested between 40 to 60 times and has lived in fear for a third of his life.

Due to an outstanding 20-year-old warrant for another man with the same name and birthday, Cole was even arrested at his job. 

To prevent the arrests from happening, Cole kept a stack of papers in his car with a note from a Chicago police sergeant to show he is not the Darren Cole police are looking for. 

Despite this, police never updated their records and arrests continued. 

Cole’s attorney Daniel Massoglia, who’s representing him in the federal civil rights lawsuit, sent a letter to city lawyers in January, but there was no response. 

Cole said the continued wrongful arrests have impacted his relationships with his family and even led him to contemplate taking his own life. 

Now that the lawsuit has been filed, Chicago police have contacted Marion County authorities to withdraw the warrant against the wanted man, the Chicago Tribune reported. 

The department also directed officers to stop arresting Cole in connection to the warrant. 

Cole and his lawyers still plan to continue with the lawsuit seeking monetary damages. 

my first lawsuit as a (student) attorney of record! i’m so proud to be working to help ensure that Darren Cole can feel safe again in his own car and his own city as soon as possible. https://t.co/R0jAy2QnIy

— Sara (@sara__rosie) March 25, 2021