police term, meaning to release someone who had been arrested, before they are even taken to the police station and processed, because it’s become clear they are innocent. (Differs from ‘released without charge’ in that no record of the arrest is kept.)He was initially identified as the thief, and arrested, but when the actual thief was found a few minutes later, he was de-arrested and allowed to go on his way.
Submitted from:
United Kingdom on 09/04/2010