singled out

[jctgf]

"After his court appearance, Baltovich said civil action against authorities is 'the furthest thing from my mind now.' He added he would support an inquiry to answer questions about how he could have been singled out by police and prosecuted for 18 years with such a result. "

hi,

this is about a man who is acquitted of a murder after being held in prison for 18 years.
does 'singled out' mean that, since the beginning, he was considered the only suspect by the police and that the police neglected ruled out the possibility of investigating other subjects?

thanks.

 

[stuartnz]

"After his court appearance, Baltovich said civil action against authorities is 'the furthest thing from my mind now.' He added he would support an inquiry to answer questions about how he could have been singled out by police and prosecuted for 18 years with such a result. "

hi,

this is about a man who is acquitted of a murder after being held in prison for 18 years.
does 'singled out' mean that, since the beginning, he was considered the only suspect by the police and that the police neglected ruled out the possibility of investigating other subjects?

thanks.

I'm not a teacher, but I'd say you have understood it exactly. The phrase always conjures up images of a predator hunting prey for me. The predator chooses just one potential victim, a single target, hence that one is "singled out". The analogy seems apt in the sort of situation you describe.

 

[susiedqq]

. . .he was considered the only suspect by the police and that the police neglected to rule out other suspects.

 

[phukos]

. . .he was considered the only suspect by the police and that the police neglected to rule out other suspects.

"Singled out" means to me that, because he was considered the only suspect, there was no consideration of anyone else.

 

[jctgf]

. . .he was considered the only suspect by the police and that the police neglected to rule out other suspects.

thanks.
i am really bad at reviewing what i write.
i wanted to say ''...that the police ruled out other suspects''. i mean, the police didn't want to consider the possibility of investigating other suspects and focused their attention on one person only. they hastily decided that the guy was guilty and that it was no use looking for other suspects.
thanks again.