WHEELING — A Wheeling woman is suing the City of Wheeling in federal court, saying a case of mistaken identity led to a wrongful arrest in 2022.

Ashley Anna Cooper filed the suit against the city, and police officers Cody McCormick and Ben Young in December in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. In the suit, she claims that she was arrested in 2022 on a warrant for a different Ashley Cooper, when a reasonable investigation would have shown they arrested the wrong person.

According to the suit, Ashley Anna Cooper had called Wheeling Police to her home for a domestic dispute on Nov. 13, 2022. When officers arrived, they ran a warrant search on her, as a matter of standard protocol, and informed her of a warrant for her arrest on a battery complaint filed Dec. 17, 2021. She was taken to Northern Regional Jail and released later that day on a $1,000 personal recognizance bond.

According to the battery complaint, a person at Northwood Health Systems in Wheeling had gone to the WPD and accused an Ashley Cooper of striking her in the head three times when the two were in the facility. WPD officers talked to a teacher at Northwood, who said the victim was struck by an Ashley Cooper.

It was later determined that the Ashley Cooper accused in the battery complaint was Ashley Marie Cooper. Ashley Anna Cooper stated in her lawsuit that she had faced previous criminal charges in Ohio County, but was not the Ashley Cooper at Northwood in 2021. The 2022 charges were dismissed after Ashley Anna Cooper produced proof she was at an appointment in another location at the time and date of the 2021 incident.

According to Ashley Anna Cooper’s lawsuit, the criminal complaint from the Northwood incident simply used the name “Ashley Cooper” with no middle name or any other personal identifiable information. The lawsuit states that Ashley Anna Cooper and Ashley Marie Cooper have different eye and hair colors, are different heights and weights and different social security numbers and never shared an address. A warrant had been mistakenly created for Ashley Anna Cooper.

“The failure to conduct a reasonable investigation, which would have revealed that Ashley Marie Cooper — and not Plaintiff Ashley Anna Cooper — was the person who should have been criminal charged in the subject incident, violated Plaintiff’s civil rights,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit claims that Ashley Anna Cooper had her civil rights violated under the United States Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protecting against illegal search and seizure, and its 14th Amendment protecting against arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Ashley Anna Cooper claims that, due to the wrongful arrest, she has suffered damages including medical bills, loss of income, severe emotional distress, mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation and physical pain and suffering. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees and costs, prejudgement and postjudgment interest and further relief.

Wheeling City Solicitor Rose Humway-Warmuth said the city had not yet been properly served this lawsuit, and that the city would have no comment on pending litigation.