ORLANDO, Fla. – A Central Florida man spent eight days in jail after he claims an Orlando police officer wrongly identified him as a driver who fled a traffic stop.
The state attorney’s office later dropped its criminal case against Markest Thomas, in part because tattoos on Thomas’s arms do not match video of the fleeing driver, which was captured by the police officer’s body-worn camera.
“I was falsely arrested for a crime I didn’t commit,” Thomas told News 6. “I would like to see accountability for what has happened.”
Image of motorist captured by officer’s body-worn camera before he fled, left, and driver’s license photo of Markest Thomas. Thomas claims police misidentified him as the fleeing motorist. (WKMG-TV 2026)
The Orlando Police Department has not indicated whether it still believes Thomas was the driver who sped away from the traffic stop. An agency spokesperson said the officer’s investigation developed sufficient probable cause for a judge to sign an arrest warrant.
Officer Andrew McKuhen, who swore under oath in an affidavit that he positively identified Thomas as the fleeing driver, was later involved in an unrelated vehicle crash that killed a 92-year-old woman. Her family is suing the city for wrongful death.
“This wasn’t a minor mistake,” Thomas said about his arrest. “My life was uprooted. I was put in jail.”
McKuhen, who had been working for OPD for less than two months, was patrolling the city’s South Semoran neighborhood on Dec. 29 when he initiated a traffic stop on a BWM, police records show.
Video of the traffic stop captured by McKuhen’s body-worn camera was provided to News 6 by Thomas, who obtained it from the state attorney’s office as part of his criminal prosecution.
“What am I getting pulled over for?” the driver asked after rolling down his window.
“The taillights are tinted,” McKuhen responded.
The driver told McKuhen he did not have his driver’s license but claimed his name was Mark Thomas.
“Mark? M-A-R-K?” asked McKuhen.
“Yes sir,” said the driver, who also provided a social security number and claimed his birthday was in April 1995.
The officer informed the driver he wanted to search inside the car after smelling marijuana smoke, observing ash on the vehicle console, and noticing a green substance on the driver’s shorts, the video shows.
As McKuhen began speaking with someone on his police radio, the driver turned on the car’s ignition and drove off.
“Turn it off! Turn it off!” McKuhen yelled as the BWM sped away.
The officer did not attempt to chase after the fleeing motorist, the video shows.
McKuhen instead contacted OPD’s communications center and shared the name “Mark Thomas” with a birthdate in April 1995, according to notes from the officer’s deposition with the state attorney’s office.
“The coms center was able to find a name close to that based on (date of birth),” the prosecutor’s notes state.
That name was Markest Thomas, who was born in February 1995 instead of April 1995.
McKuhen then obtained a driver’s license photo of Thomas, state attorney records indicate.
In a sworn affidavit, McKuhen wrote that he was able to “positivity identify Markest Tyrell Tomas as the driver of the vehicle”.
The affidavit does not indicate whether the officer reviewed his body-worn camera footage and compared it to Thomas’s photo before submitting it to a judge.
The officer’s affidavit noted that the social security number provided by the driver was linked to a woman named Nancy. The affidavit does not indicate who may have owned the BMW, but records show McKuhen later told prosecutors the vehicle’s license plate traced back to a woman.
Based on McKuhen’s affidavit, Orange County Circuit Court Judge Greg A. Tynan issued an arrest warrant for Thomas, who lives in Lake County.
Thomas does not believe he looks like the fleeing motorist.
“We both have beards,” Thomas told News 6. “But other than that, I don’t think there are any similarities to us at all.”
On Jan. 20, deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office arrived at Thomas’s home in Mascotte to execute the arrest warrant.
Thomas said he originally thought the deputies were going to inform him that something bad had happened to a family member.
“I’m sitting over her playing video games when I hear a loud bang at the door,” Thomas told News 6. “They ask me to step out, and the next thing I know, I’m getting handcuffed.”
Thomas was transported to the Lake County jail, where he was held without bond for seven nights before being transferred to the jail in Orange County for another night.
“I just started breaking down and crying, because none of it made sense to me,” Thomas said. “I’ve never been in trouble with the police ever. I don’t have a criminal record. I’ve never been locked up and never had handcuffs on my hands before.”
An Orange County judge released Thomas from custody Jan. 28 to await trial. He was not required to post bond, but the judge issued a series of restrictions, including a prohibition against possessing alcohol or firearms.
After his arrest, Thomas said no one from OPD interviewed him or otherwise attempted to verify he was the driver who fled the traffic stop.
On July 16, the state attorney’s office formally charged Thomas with fleeing from law enforcement, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors declined to pursue several drug-related charges recommended by the officer, records show.
After Thomas was charged, he said prosecutors gave his attorney a copy of the video captured by the police officer’s body-worn camera.
Thomas immediately noticed the driver’s arms.
“I have all these tattoos on my arm,” Thomas told News 6 as he pointed to the body art covering his right hand and forearm. “I’ve had this one since 2018. I’ve had this one since 2023.”
The driver has no visible tattoos on his right arm, the officer’s video shows.
Assistant State Attorney Zachary Cole deposed McKuhen and reviewed the officer’s body-worn camera video on August 3, records show.
“(The driver) never gave the name Markest Tyrell Thomas,” the prosecutor wrote in his case management notes.
Cole also highlighted the absence of tattoos on the driver’s right arm.
“(The) driver gave the name Mark Thomas, which is similar to Markest Thomas, and the (driver’s license) photo looked like this person, but I think there are enough differences in their appearance to create reasonable doubt,” the prosecutor wrote. “It’s definitely possible and maybe even likely that this is the correct person, but I don’t think it’s (beyond a reasonable doubt).”
Later that day, the state attorney’s office formally dropped the felony charge against Thomas.
“I feel like I deserve an apology,” Thomas told News 6. “I don’t think someone can be locked up for no reason when they haven’t committed a crime, and after charges are dropped they just move on.”
News 6 emailed OPD a side-by-side photograph of Thomas and the driver to inquire whether the agency still believed he was the motorist who fled the officer.
The agency did not respond to that question.
“The officer’s investigation developed sufficient probable cause for a judge to sign an arrest warrant,” OPD said in a statement. “The State Attorney’s decision to not move forward with the case is an internal decision that they made, we have no comment on their decision.”
Less than three weeks after the traffic stop that led to Thomas’s arrest, records show McKuhen was involved in an unrelated vehicle crash that killed 92-year-old Milagros “Millie” Ortiz.
[RELATED: Family announces $92M lawsuit against Orlando police in death of 92-year-old]
While stopped at a red light on January 18, McKuhen reportedly witnessed another driver making an illegal U-turn.
As the officer began entering intersection, video from a nearby traffic camera shows the emergency lights on his patrol vehicle were activated. But moments before colliding into the side of a passing Jeep carrying Ortiz, the police vehicle’s red and blue lights went dark.
The office of State Attorney Monique Worrell declined to file criminal charges against McKuhen after finding no evidence that the officer was driving recklessly.
However, the state attorney’s office noted in a memo that the officer’s vehicle had a history of maintenance issues involving the operation of its emergency lights and siren that dated back years.
Ortiz’s family, who is represented by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, filed a $92 million wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Orlando earlier this month. City officials declined to comment on the litigation.
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