How's this for a horror story?

How can police departments get away with such disregard for the evidence? Here's a story from South Dakota.

A split state Supreme Court has refused to reinstate a lawsuit filed by a former Sturgis man who was falsely accused of rape and kidnapping after three children made up a story.

Todd Heib cannot sue Meade County Deputy Sheriff Robert Lehrkamp Jr. because Lehrkamp had probable cause to arrest Heib based on what the officer knew at the time of the arrest, the high court said Thursday in a 3-2 decision.

The two dissenting justices said Heib should be allowed to continue his lawsuit so a jury could examine the facts and determine whether Lehrkamp had probable cause for arresting Heib.

Court records say two girls, ages 12 and 13, and an 11-year-old boy skipped school Dec. 9, 1997, and rode around with four other youths. They made up the story about kidnapping and rape to cover up the fact that they skipped school.

The two girls and the boy told law officers they had been kidnapped that morning and that two girls were raped by an 18-year-old man with the aid of another man they later identified as Heib, who was then 19.

Heib told authorities he had left his house early that morning and went with a friend to eat breakfast at a fast-food restaurant. He then went to an optometrist's office and to work at a building supply store until 3 p.m.

His story was backed up by witnesses at the restaurant, the optometrist's office and the building-supply store. A Sturgis police officer told Lehrkamp that Heib might have an alibi for the time of the alleged crimes.

But one of the young girls and the boy identified Heib from a photograph as the second man involved in the alleged rape and kidnapping.

Heib was arrested two days after the allegations were first made, and a grand jury indicted him for aiding and abetting rape and kidnapping.

He spent 86 days in jail, where another prisoner severely beat him. He was put in isolation to protect him from other prisoners who believed he was a sexual pervert, and he had to wear a bulletproof vest to a court appearance because of death threats.

Heib also lost his job, his vehicle and his home.

One of the girls later admitted that the accusations were made up.