SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Seminole County man was injured in a car crash that wasn't his fault, but he ended up being shackled and thrown in jail. He told Eyewitness News that it was because of a crime in 1985.

The case, he says, should have been cleared up 24 years ago. The man at the center of it all says the original crime was resolved.

Michael Nielsen was waiting in the turn lane Thursday night when his past came back to haunt him. Nielsen remembers the crash itself clearly, but what followed, he says, feels as hazy and confusing as a nightmare.

“It feels like a travesty and I felt like I was treated like a second-class citizen out here,” he said.

Nielsen expected to immediately be rushed from the crash scene to the nearest hospital. Instead, he found himself just hours later, at the Seminole County jail.

When Casselberry police responded to the accident they say they saw an open warrant for Nielsen out of Lee County.

“Next thing I know, I'm thrown in hand cuffs and thrown in the back of a squad car,” he said.

Nielsen and his wife insisted the violation was fully cleared 24 years ago in 1985.

Nielsen has changed his driver’s license, gotten traffic tickets and even had one subsequent arrest. All were opportunities to arrest for an active warrant and the issue never appeared.

“This is 23 years and 10 months later. Why would that come up now?” Nielsen asked.

Lee County officials did not have an answer.

A spokesperson called Nielsen’s case "unique" and couldn't explain how a supposedly active warrant could be overlooked so many times.

Nielsen's wife thinks human error recently brought an old violation back from the grave.

“I just think it's wrong. Simple as that. There's right and there's wrong and this was wrong,” Theresa Nielsen said.

Seminole County could not reveal how many open warrants it has.

Nielsen was given medical attention after the accident and now a court date looms for him in south Florida.