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21 Times Police Officers Wrongly Accused People Of Ridiculous Things
Article created by: Mindaugas Balčiauskas
Since the official police establishment in the 1800s, the institution has struggled to maintain a positive image. Over the years, it has been involved in many controversies ranging from racial bias to corruption. However, one of the most damaging mistakes they make is false accusations that not only continue to tarnish their reputation but also put other people in very unpleasant situations. Folks under this popular thread have been recently sharing stories exactly about that, which we gathered in the list below for you to react to. Scroll down to find them, and don’t forget to leave your own similar encounters with police officers in the comment section. This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Many, many years ago, someone pulled down the American flag and stomped on it in front of the elementary school across the street from my apartment. It was the early seventies and anti-war protests were common. I was an undergrad and cooking some soup for lunch when three cops burst into my apartment, threw me in handcuffs and took me to jail. I had long hair at the time and fit the profile of the person who desecrated the flag. I kept asking them what I had done, but they told me to shut up, roughed me up and promised me that I was going to prison. After a couple of hours in jail the hall door opened and a woman appeared with two young students from the school. They walked over to my cell, looked at me and said, “that’s not the guy.” The cops sheepishly released me and offered me a ride home, which I refused. I learned a lot that day. Never trust the cops. Never say a word, especially if you’re innocent.
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#2
My housemate was suspected of being involved in a burglary of an office of a company we both worked for (I have no idea whodunnit but doubt he had anything to do with it).
Detective came to our door and started yelling at me. Demanded I go get my housemate. I basically told the cop that I’m not involved with their interrogation process and didn’t want to be.
At this point, the cop lashed out and started yelling at me that he’d be looking into my involvement in the burglary.
I was the victim. It was my office that had been robbed. I was even the one who gave them the security footage of someone who didn’t bear even a passing resemblance to me stealing. FROM ME.
#3
I used to walk home from work, right past a bar. I walk with a limp due to a birth defect. Cop stopped me, started shouting at me about "public intox" and was going to take me in until I demanded he let me blow a breathalyzer which came back as no alcohol. He let me off with a warning and muttering about a faulty breathalyzer.
#4
Cop almost ran into me and then pulled me over for failure to yield. Dude was on some sort of roid rage tantrum, he almost punched my window out (he thought i should have rolled it down farther (it was raining)). I took the ticket even though I was pretty sure i was in the right.
Went back later and looked and yeah, he was the one that had a yield sign, not me.
Lawyer took care of it.
#5
Got wrongly pulled over and accused of speeding in a 30 zone, when it was a large pickup truck behind my Dodge charger. Had video evidence from her body cam showing her radar picking up 2 separate speeds alternating and mine which was slower came first. She couldn't even tell me how the radar detector tells which one is which. 2 months on the force. Fought in court with jury and still lost and had to pay fees. I have zero faith in the system and won't trust cops.
#6
This is so ridiculous.
I was walking home from my small town's grocery store at about 8:30 at night when I was 13 or 14 years old. It was school picture day, I had a white t-shirt and a now unbuttoned long sleeve tee. My hair was done nice and not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm white so this has never happened before. Cop stopped me as I walked down an alley and immediately lays into me with questions. I was pretty annoyed at the whole thing from the get go and was talking back. 'Why do you need to see into my bag?' 'Why did you stop me?' etc.
I think my attitude was probably making the cop have an attitude back.
As an aside, If anyone wants to tell me why a teenager needs to have more emotional composure than a cop I'd love to hear it.
Anyways, he's asking me where I'm coming from/where I'm going. We just happen to be standing in the middle of an alley, but really it's more like a driveway for one of the houses on that corner and an alley behind two other houses and a flower shop. People walked it all the time because the nearby main road has poor lights and didn't have sidewalks on the side I was on.
When he asked where I'm coming from I hold up the bag and shake it. It's clear plastic and has the logo of the only grocery store in town on it and I just point at the grocery store which is maybe 100 feet away. When he asks where I'm going I roll my eyes and just point at my house which is about 100 feet in the other direction. We're standing at a point between both so lines of site aren't obstructed.
When I waved the bag in front of him he honed in on that and told me I had to show him what's in the bag. I asked him why he needed to know what's in the bag. I don't remember what he said but it was typical cop BS, I'm sure. I laugh as I hand him the bag and he opens it and digs his hand around inside a bag with like 12 packets of kool-aid in it.
He looks at me and goes: "Got a lot of kool-aid in there don't ya?" That thing they do when it's a statement but said like a question cause they want to get you talking.
It fried my brain and I just look at him for a few seconds and go: 'Yeah. My friends and I like kool-aid.'
tl;dr: bored small town cop makes themself look like a p***k trying to rile up a teenager carrying too much kool-aid. Don't trust the police they'll lie and cheat ya. Small town cops are often just bullies who grew up and found a way to bully as a caeer.
#7
A man accused me of throwing a brick through his living room window. I didn't know him and wasnt even near his house that morning. Some random kid on a bike said, "that weirdo goth girl did it" and so the police showed up at my house to arrest me. I had to prove I was home all day long. They were there with the cuffs all ready to go. Even though I proved I hadn't left all day (parents and brother vouched for me and I had chat logs from irc to prove I was online at the time) the cop told me he was watching me and would be in touch.
Later, the boy on the bike and his friend confessed to it.
#8
Back when I was 18 I went to a police training camp that is designed to help someone get into the police academy. During the training camp I volunteered to get pepper sprayed. It was very negative. Also decided I should go to college and not be a cop. It was a good choice.
#9
Back in my early 20s I was SA'd by someone I thought I could trust. I ran straight to the nearest police station panicked and sobbing. The doors were locked and the lights were off inside, but there was a camera and intercom system near the door that contacted the next nearest precinct after hours, I called it. A guy answered and I blurted out, still crying, that I'd been SA'd and I needed help.
He got angry and said "I don't need to help anyone who takes that tone with me!" then hung up.
I was hysterical, not confrontational, I called back hoping I could explain the misunderstanding and get help. No one answered.
I spent another 20 minutes sobbing in front of that empty police station before calling a friend to come get me, who recognised straight away that something was wrong. They tried to convince me to go to the hospital but I just wanted the night to be over, plus I'd already seen how much the cops cared about what had happened so I figured gathering evidence for them was a waste of time.
#10
On a school trip to Paris in the early 2010s. While I was getting off the plane I tripped on the lip of the gangway and the whole bottom of my shoe fell off.
Spent the next week walking around on a shoe held together with duct tape. We only had 2 hours of free time the whole trip and I spent them looking for a shoe store.
Eventually found a Nike store or something. Went inside, found shoes that fit. The whole time my teacher is texting me that I'm delaying the bus and if im not there within 5 minutes they're leaving and I'll need to get a taxi back to the hotel.
Take the shoes to the counter, pay. Grab the shoes and start running to try and catch the bus before it leaves. As I approach the doors a security guard blocks me and asks to see my receipt. Realize i forgot it at the cashier, security guard says that's fine and takes me back.
In the literal 20 seconds I'd been gone the cashiers had swapped to the afternoon shift, and the manager had put the receipts for the morning shift in some kind of lockbox then gone for lunch. So none of the cashiers recognized me and they couldnt verify the purchase without the manager who wasnt answering his phone either.
Security guard was very nice but said he had to follow procedure until this all got sorted out. So he took me to the back and called the police.
Within 5 minutes of arriving the police were threatening me, a 14 year old child, with deportation. And threatening a fine of several hundred Euro. After trying to explain what had happened several times and being ignored I just gave up and sat there quietly. Eventually the security guard managed to get in contact with the night shift manager who came and got the receipts and proved I had paid for the shoes.
#11
When I was in high school I tutored special needs kids and often we would go on “field trips” to the grocery store, fire department, etc. One day we went to the police station, and one of the kids asked me if I could get them one of the stickers that this female cop was handing out.
I went up to her but couldn’t tell if she noticed me because she was wearing reflective sunglasses and I couldn’t see her eyes (big pet peeve of mine lol). I was also extremely shy so was kind of stammering and hesitating to see if I had her attention. Well apparently I did before I realized it, and instead of asking me what I needed she turns to one of the other high school aged tutors and whispers while pointing at me, “is she one of them?” 😭😭 Unprofessional and rude for so many reasons and I’ve never forgotten it.
#12
Myself and my two best friends had left my apartment for less than an hour. There was a strong metal screen door before the regular front door. Someone somehow broke the screen door enough to get through to the regular door. They tried to break the wooden door, too, but apparently gave up. When we called the cops they were unhelpful and blamed it on us not locking the door? Even tho the lock was obviously forced and broken. We were 3 20 year old girls and scared.
This was 15 years ago, so security cameras were far less common.
#13
I was coming back from the beach with my girlfriend at the time and her friend, and we were on the way to play D&D, I was on the back seat with my stuff. My gf gets pulled over, they come in, see me and immediately zero in on me. I got asked out of the car, I got asked where we were going, and I got asked to check what was inside my backpack (towel, monster manual, players handbook, a bunch of dice).
I am Hispanic, and the two other people in the car were white. It was my first time being pulled over while brown.
#14
When my friends and I were sixteen, we headed to the Portland Saturday Market. For the uninitiated, the Saturday Market is pretty legit now, but used to be forty tents under a bridge, where stoners sold wind chimes made of salad forks and felt hats.
So my friend Missy wanders into a hemp shop a sees a sarong she likes. She buys it. We head out.
On the road home, we're singing along to terrible music and suddenly we see the flash of police lights behind us. Missy was driving, with the sarong in her lap. She pulls over. The cop walks up to the window. A few of us are giggling out of sheer nerves. Missy rolls down the window, and the cop reels.
The heavy scent of patchouli and pot rolls thickly out of the car, right into the cops face. His mustache waggles disapprovingly, and before he can say anything, Missy shoves the sarong in his face yelling, "IT'S THIS! IT'S THIS! I DON'T SMOKE!"
The cop looks at the sarong, looks at us giggling in the back seat, and looks at Missy. In a last ditch effort, she squeaks, "I'm Mormon."
The cop laughs, and lets us go. He never said a word.
Missy never wore the sarong.
#15
My car got stolen while I was putting my toddler’s jackets on during a blizzard. My youngest had a cold and I didn’t want them sitting in a cold car while it warmed up or sitting alone in the house while I warmed the car. The cop arrived and asked for my ID immediately. Disappears to his car and then returns with a ticket for me for letting my car run unattended. Wasn’t interested in any of my reasons and only took a description of the car after I begged him to do so, but made sure to tell me that if they found the person inside my car, they wouldn’t prosecute because I’d been negligent.
#16
I was a park ranger in NYC and because I'm white and wore a uniform like them, they felt comfortable using racial slurs around me.
#17
Pulled off the road in to a parking lot for a nap. Was driving home and became drowsy. Driving drowsy isn't safe. Found a parking lot for a quick nap. Fall asleep, next thing I know some cop is banging on my window convinced I'm drunk. Demands a field sobriety test. I was too ignorant to refuse. I also have ADHD and Autism. Those conditions can cause false positives. Got arrested and brought in for a breathalyzer. Blew a 0.0 because tired and neurospicy isn't drunk. At that point he took me back to my car. I just wanted a nap to keep myself and other driver's safe. Next time I'll refuse.
#18
I approached an intersection to make a left turn and though the intersection had a left turning lane, there was a sign posted saying no left turns. So I put my right blinker on, safely merged into the straight lane and continued through the intersection, making my left at the next intersection. Lights and sirens behind me: "we just wanted to make sure you knew where you were going. BTW we need every body in the vehicles ID". Yes, I am, and yes I was with 3 black men.
#19
It was a work Christmas night out, and I was one of the last three out. The other remaining two were my blind colleague and a younger female colleague who had far too much to drink. Needed to get them both home safe, but it was so busy I couldn't get a taxi.
There were to coppers working just outside the hotel we'd been partying in. Explained the situation and asked them for help, pointing out how vulnerable the other two were. They refused.
Kept trying to flag down a taxi but they were just grabbing literally anyone with no sense of order and were having no luck. Getting more worried about the young drunk girl who was now talking about staying out on her own.
Asked the cop for help again, refused I said I really needed there help.....so he got annoyed and threatened to arrest me. No idea what he would have tried to charge me with. I argued that was clearly wrong and his partner could see his colleague clearly over-reacting and told me to wait a few feet away while they talked.
After that, the colleague did flag down a taxi to get rid of me and was able to get them both home safe.
So yeah, threatened with arrest for trying to get people who were clearly at risk home safe. Good old South Wales Police.
Drunk girl lived several towns over and cost me £40 which I never got back.
#20
I was at a birthday party down in boulder, but wasn't drinking as I was feeling sick and on a motorcycle. After 2 hours I rode home, at around 11pm. While riding I started feeling really sick. I pulled up to a stop light, and before I knew it I felt myself throwing up. Lifted my visor, look right and down and threw up all over the road. When I looked up a police car was next to me, with 2 cops inside. As soon as the lights turned green they flashed their lights, as they assumed I was drunk as a skunk. They yelled a lot about how dangerous it was to be drunk on a bike. We then went to the breathalizer, and naturally I registered .00.
TLDR. Threw up while on a motorcycle next to a cop while sober.
#21
I was asleep in my apartment. I got a knock at the door. Police said they had a noise complaint. I said that's impossible because I've been asleep. They asked me to open the door. I (Still groggy) agreed, but asked if I could put on some pants first. (I was speaking to them through the closed door with my boxers on.)
One said sure. The other said "Let me just ask, is your name [Name of person I don't know]?" I said "Nope." and they said "Ok, have a nice night." They definitely weren't there for a noise complaint.
I have a few other stories I can share if people are interested.
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