While there, Buoniconti, an officer with the N.C. Port Authority police, took him into custody after he was mistaken for a man named Shawn L. Hill wanted in St. Louis, Missouri on felony forgery charges.
Although Hill protested and the lawsuit states Buoniconti saw the social security numbers did not match, no fingerprinting was done and Hill spent more than two weeks in New Hanover jail before being released.
Buoniconti was hired by N.C. Ports on March 3, 2014, according to information provided by Laura Blair, N.C. Ports vice president of administration and external affairs. He is a police officer with a salary of $38,495 and the employment history provided by the agency, which is public record per N.C. law, shows his previous salary increases were due to either a cost of living increase, market change, or were merit based.
A Georgia man is suing the New Hanover County Sheriff s Office, among others, after he says he was illegally kept in jail for more than two weeks.
Shawn La Derrick Hill, of Augusta, Georgia, filed a lawsuit against the sheriff s office, New Hanover County, and officer J.M. Buoniconti on April 7.
According to the lawsuit, Hill came to the Port of Wilmington as a truck driver to pick up a load for his employer on April 22, 2019. A port employee called the N.C. Ports Authority police after scanning Hill s ID, though the lawsuit does not state why police were called in initially.