Dashcam footage shows steakhouse cook arrested when he is mistaken for a fugitive with the same name

Shocking footage of a police dashcam video reveals the moment a steakhouse cook sat in the rear seat of a cruiser after he wrongfully arrested by the Coconut Creek Police in Florida.

Leonardo Silva Oliveira, 26, can be heard repeatedly claiming his innocence to a police officer who said he had a warrant out for his arrest in Palm Beach County.

‘It’s impossible for me to be on probation because I’ve never been arrested,’ Silva Oliveira told the cop in the video that was first obtained by NBC 6.

The law enforcement agent, who is unidentified, subsequently replied: ‘I hear you man, but some is saying you did, you were arrested and have and violated probation and you literally, all of your identification and the way you look identifies you as the person.’

The fugitive Leonardo Silva Oliveira is wanted for probation violation stemming from 2017 charges for burglary dwelling and grand theft that had been filed in the Palm Beach County city of Boca Raton.

Leonardo Silva Oliveira, the cook, was walking out of the Deerfield Beach restaurant the afternoon of January 20 when he was suddenly surrounded by police cars.

A Florida cook identified as Leonardo Silva Oliveira is shown on a dashcam video, obtained by NBC 6, sitting in the back of a Coconut Creek Police after he was wrongly arrested January 20. Authorities confused him when they served him with a warrant for his apprehension outside the restaurant he worked at. The suspect they sought, had the same name and age but was born 10 days after the innocent man and also had tattoos. Silva Oliveira told the network that he is looking into taking legal actions against the police department

Leonardo Silva Oliveira was arrested by mistake moments after leaving the Deerfield Beach, Florida, restaurant where he is employed as a cook

Leonardo Silva Oliveira still remains at large. He is wanted fora  probation violation stemming from 2017 charges for burglary dwelling and grand theft that had been filed in the Palm Beach County city of Boca Raton

‘There is no way, there is literally no way,’ Silva Oliveira said.

‘That’s not you?’ the cop later said.

‘That’s my picture,’ the restaurant worker responded. ‘That’s my picture, but I’ve never been arrested.’

The police officer questioned him if he had been ever arrested, to which he replied, ‘I’ve never been in handcuffs in the back of a police car.’

The cop then asks another agent, ‘It’s already been confirmed?’ before the shocked innocent man tells him, ‘You’ve confirmed that it’s me?’ 

‘It’s confirmed. I’ve confirmed that it’s you,’ the police officer told him.

A Coconut Creek Police Department’s arrest report indicated the cook was identified through Florida’s driver and vehicle information database even though his birth date was different than the fugitive’s. 

The suspect also had tattoos on both of his arms, which the restaurant worker did not have.

Leonardo Silva Oliveira was the unfortunate namesake of a wanted fugitive and arrested by the Coconut Creek Police on January 20 after he left the Deerbeach, Florida, restaurant where he works as a cook

Despite sharing the same name and age, the innocent man, who is 10 days younger than the wanted criminal, was placed in jail for five days and released when authorities discovered their mistake.

The cook, who does not have a criminal record, told the Florida SunSentinel after his release that he had been on locked for 24 hours the first two days he was held and was allowed out of his cell for three straight days before he was let go January 25.

NBC 6 obtained court records from that Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office that revealed some of the mistakes that were taken during Oliveira’s apprehension, among them being that the warrant that incorrect information. 

A detectiive with the  Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office noted that they observed an ‘investigative checklist,’ and used law enforcement databases, but a suggestion made to a Coconut Creek sergeant that called for the use of a portable fingerprint scanner was unceremoniously rejected because the official claimed it was ‘unreliable.’

Oliveira hired a lawyer and told the station he is thinking about taking the police department to court.