Man Jailed After Showing Up For Canceled Court Date During Polar Vortex, Missing Make-Up

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The City of Chicago came to a near stop last week during the polar vortex, closing many businesses and buildings including the Cook County courts. But now one man says his legal trouble is mounting as he sits in jail all because of what he calls a breakdown in communication after the weather canceled his court hearing.

Jeremiah Harris is trying to do everything by the book for a mistake he made in June 2018. He was booked in the Cook County Jail on domestic battery charges and violation of a protection order.

"It was a domestic violence charge," Harris' mother Summer Netterville said. "He was on probation for something he did in high school."

Netterville doesn't make excuses for her son but points out that he's doing everything to make his past wrongs right.

She says he was greeted at the courthouse by locked doors.

"The whole building was closed, shut down, so he didn't know when to go back to court," she said.

He went to go see his probation officer Thursday and tell her that he did show up for court that day, and they locked him up for not show up by missing the makeup court date scheduled for Wednesday. Harris technically violated his probation and was booked Thursday in the Cook County Jail.

"I know it's his responsibility. He could have called, but it's also their responsibility if you are going to shut the building down and have a lot of people's lives in hand," his mom said. "He's a good kid. I have good kids. It's not fair."

It's unclear how those rescheduled court dates were communicated or how many people now have warrants as a result of those missed court dates.