Why does this sentence have "[sic]"?

This article on BBC website has the sentence

Who goes on a job interview, gets hired, and commits suicide in a jail cell after being arrested [sic] for a routine traffic stop?

As I understand [sic], it's meant to imply there's an error in the original text that the reporter is stating verbatim.

Arrested is spelt correctly, so is the [sic] unnecessary in this instance, or does it refer to something else in the sentence?

Solution 1:

Oh, this is a depressing question.

The original tweet asks what woman commits suicide in a jail cell after getting a job and being "arrested for a routine traffic stop." Ms. Bland was not arrested for a traffic stop, which is not really a process, nor was she arrested for a traffic violation; rather, she was arrested on the charge of assaulting a public servant, as said earlier in the article.

The [sic] is to reflect that the erroneous statement that Ms. Bland was "arrested for a...traffic stop" is an error of the original tweeter, and not BBC's.

Solution 2:

The original tweet was:

Who goes on a job interview, gets hired, and commits suicide in a jail cell after being arrested d a routine traffic stop?

Note "d" where the BBC has "for." I suspect that the reporter wrote this:

Who goes on a job interview, gets hired, and commits suicide in a jail cell after being arrested d [sic] a routine traffic stop?

And then an editor incorrectly "corrected" it to the quote in the BBC piece:

Who goes on a job interview, gets hired, and commits suicide in a jail cell after being arrested [sic] for a routine traffic stop?

Exal's answer suggests that [sic] indicates that the arrest was not for a traffic stop but for the more serious offense of assaulting a public servant. However, if that were true, [sic] should appear after "for a routine traffic stop," ([sic] always follows the material that it marks):

Who goes on a job interview, gets hired, and commits suicide in a jail cell after being arrested for a routine traffic stop [sic]?

Similarly, Yohann V.'s answer suggests that [sic] is marking an odd or erroneous word, but the word being marked is "arrested" -- which is certainly not erroneous or odd; it is the reason for the arrest that is odd, so, again, [sic] should be at the end of the quote.

Solution 3:

Sic does not necessarily denote a spelling mistake. It is an abbreviation of the latin sic erat scriptum, roughly translatable to thus was it written. It is meant to indicate that the quotation was copied exactly. It is not limited to spelling mistakes and can also mean:

• Incorrect information
• Unusual word usage/spelling
• Archaic word usage/spelling

It does not necessarily even mean that there is an error. The information may be correct, but might be interpreted as an error by some. At the end of the day this indicates that any confusion stems from the source and not the writer.