25 Times Innocent People Were Charged With Absurd Crimes By The Police

Conflicts between people and police are frequent enough to foster mutual distrust. Not all officers misuse their power, but cases of corruption and petty behaviour do occur. These authority figures are human, yet the system often provides them too much freedom, which can lead to unchecked abuses. Officers sometimes bend the law, dole out questionable punishments, and assert power in ways that regular citizens find easier to comply with than to resist. A primary misuse of police authority involves falsely accusing innocent people. When one Redditor online asked, “People who have had a negative encounter with the police while one hundred percent innocent, what’s your story?”, many shared their personal accounts, revealing how such encounters eroded their trust in law enforcement.

#1

Image source: Good-Spot189, NomadSoul1 / Envato 2006ish, I worked in a night club, was there on my day off. I don't drink so I'm always the DD. While gathering the people I'm responsible for, this guy grabs my shirt and wouldn't let go. He's obviously hammered so after a few attempts to get him to let go, I gently sweep him to the ground, telling him to chill out. Security comes. Everyone is friends/coworkers of mine. They ask if I'm OK, and I say yes. As I'm walking away, the guy gets up and says "I'm a cop". I ended up leaving with the crew I was driving for immediately. Hours later the cops come to my house and arrest me for a*****lting a police officer. Went to court, fought it. Won. The cop lied his a*s off. Said he was stone faced sober and that I was drunk. We offered the field sobriety test I was given by state police on my way home as evidence of being sober. (My tag light was out). Then we offered his $400 tab as proof of him drinking. After the trial, I was told I was free to go. According to the judge "they handed even come close to proving beyond a reasonable doubt that I was in the wrong". I was told the arrest would be expunged from my record. The judge told the officer and DA to stay. I went sit in the back of the court room (I didn't know what to do). He proceeded to chew them both new a******s for lying and bringing cases like mine to trial. I'm not sure what else happened, I was so scared I kinda snuck out of the court room. Edit: One of my favorite lines of questioning was this: My lawyer was asking the guy about himself. They guy is going on and on about - He's ex Marine, 5-10, 200 pounds... Trained in the military... Trained by law enforcement... My lawyer: if you're so trained and my client was extremely drunk... How did he at 160 pounds, sweep you to the ground so easily and hold you there? DEER IN HEADLIGHTS. I was like d**n, great question lol.

#2

Image source: scipio0421, KOMUnews / flickr 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.

#3

Image source: QuantumConversation, LightFieldStudios / Envato 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.

#4

Image source: Crappler319, Alexandre Debiève / Unsplash I've told this story before but it bears repeating. It didn't actually inconvenience me, I was let go, but the way it went down stuck with me forever and really colored my perception of cops. It was around 20-ish years ago. I was hanging out with my friends, around seven of us. I was the only white kid there. We were all around 16-17, hanging out for a few minutes (literally less than five, it's not like we were loitering) outside of the Gamestop in the parking lot of the local mall, talking about GameCube vs. PS2. Completely innocent, normal kid s**t. A trio of cops roll up and start yelling, pointing at the wall, shoving folks against it, the usual s**t. I go to get up against the wall and one of them just looks at me, the only white kid, and says, "Go home." It couldn't have been "they match a description" thing. My friends were between 5'5 and 6'6, light skinned, dark skinned, in between. Everybody looked completely different. The cops shook them all down and then cut them loose when they didn't find anything on them. It was a foundational moment for me, the first time I ever really sat and thought, "that was 100% racially motivated. My buddies got shoved against a wall and harassed because they were black, and I didn't despite doing the exact same thing because I was white.".

#5

Image source: Entire_Teaching1989, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato 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.

#6

Image source: l2driveplz, Ahmet Kurt / Unsplash Not me, but I was out with my friend (and some others) on his boat a few years ago. We finished boating, docked, and hitched to the truck. Then some cops walk up and accuse him of being drunk. He passed all the field sobriety tests, though they said he failed them. They arrested him in front of everyone and brought him in to breath test him. Of course he passed, he hadn't been drinking. Meanwhile his fiance is freaking out and calling lawyers and family, and I'm stuck figuring out what to do with the vehicles/boat. They didn't even tell us where he was going, so we had to call around to figure that out too. The whole debacle lasted 5-6 hours and caused a lot of emotional distress. Definitely lost faith in law enforcement that day. They made up a BS charge, ignored everyone around them, and made up the results of sobriety tests to suit their narrative. Don't trust the police.

#7

Image source: FourthLvlSpicyMeme, Martin Jernberg / Unsplash I was walking home from work at age 14, it was about 10 pm, December. This would have been 22 years ago now. I lived in Alberta Canada at the time, though I spent most of my childhood in BC. Cop stops me, decides I'm up to something because I'm outside after dark while indigenous, I don't have ID because I'm f*****g fourteen. Instead of taking me home, taking me to a police station, or even a hospital, I was given a "Starlight Tour". That's where cops drive you out of town and leave you stranded to walk back, just because they felt like it. They didn't record the stops either, because there's obviously a protocol for apprehending someone off the street, which they had no intention of following. Sometimes they'd up the cruelty by dousing the person in water and making them walk back in the winter, taking winter clothing, etc. In my case, they took my shoes and made me walk back to town. I have nerve damage on the soles of my feet. The reason? They were new, so clearly I stole them. You wanna know the f****d up part? I'm thankful. Because I didn't die like my cousin, who was doused in water when they did it to her a month later. We did nothing but try to walk home from our jobs, she was babysitting, I worked at a dreadfully bad call center soliciting donations. We had no weapons. We had no prior police involvement whatsoever. We had a guardian or parent waiting for us in a safe home, in both cases. I was walking a well lit street on the same route I always took home. I wasn't acting suspicious, or out of place, I was goddamned fourteen, completely and totally innocent. Existing while indigenous is still an unwritten crime in Canada, they're just way sneakier about it now. I never reported it. The way it was done, there wasn't much to report or nothing you could prove. Who's trusting a First Nations teenagers word over a white cop? Nevermind the reprisals you'd get if you tried to report cop behavior. They'd ruin your life, I watched it happen to many people, including my auntie and uncle who tried to get justice for my cousin. For me, it's the same as not bothering to report the SA's that have happened since. They don't give a f**k, and never will because of who I am and what my bloodline is, and I'm just too d**n tired to care or try anymore. ACAB.

#8

Image source: ca77ywumpus, bialasiewicz / Envato A cop banged on my back door at 9 PM. He was demanding that I come outside, and had his hand on his g*n the entire time, holster un-snapped. I didn't take the chain off the door. He kept getting more and more aggressive, using the "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of" line. I deadbolted the door and called 911. Turns out he was at the wrong address, on the entirely wrong street. I filed a complaint with the city, and suddenly the police are cruising my street every few days checking for parking violations. I ended up contacting my city council member and the mayor's office, and suddenly they went away.

#9

Image source: ElChuloPicante, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato 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.

#10

Image source: jarboxing, YuriArcursPeopleimages / Envato Texas state trooper pulled me over for a BS reason. He sees my prescription pill bottle and claims it's probable cause to search the vehicle. So he searches and finds nothing. Then to cover his own a*s, he throws away the pill bottle and takes a picture of just the pills. Signs and affidavit claiming I was unable to provide proof of the prescription. The police wouldn't accept my prescription as proof because it conflicted with the affidavit. 2 years and 10's of thousands later and the only way to get all the records destroyed was to sign a document swearing i wouldn't sue the county for violating my civil rights. Their deal was literally "we will make the problem we created disappear, IF you don't hold us accountable." ETA: the dashcam footage showing the reason for stopping me was also lost (SAD).

#11

Image source: Risheil, Pressmaster / Envato My son was 15. I had him in counseling (social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists) since he was 6. I was widowed since he was 3 years old, so I was dealing with this on my own. He had a diagnosis of chronic depression and we’d tried all kinds of medication and behavior modification over the years. He ended up attacking me in his psychiatrist’s office. The psychiatrist called the police and recommended that I have the police transport him to a psych hospital while I get my face stitched up. The police took him out in handcuffs (as was appropriate). I drove home and arranged for a neighbor to take care of my other child overnight so I could go to the hospital, get my face stitched up, and talk to the police about transporting my son to the psych hospital as I didn’t think I was safe driving him. They police wanted me to have family take him in or transport him but I didn’t live near family. We finally arrived at me getting stitched up and following the police car from the police station to the psych hospital so he could be admitted. I found out after, that while they waited for me, they threw my 15 year old into a cell with an 18 year old, who was high on crystal m**h, and tried to make them fight. Providence Police Department. He needed to be restrained. He didn’t need to be thrown into a situation like that when he was already in crisis. Or ever. Nobody ever needs to be forced into a situation like that no matter what.

#12

Image source: guitarism101, reddit 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.

#13

Image source: ConsolationUsername, Drazen Nesic / Envato 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.

#14

Image source: neighborhooddk, reezky11 / Envato I had started my day by preparing my supplies. I had planned to work on my Star Wars Diorama that day, and was very excited. My (now ex) wife had a bit of a mental breakdown where she was being really aggressive towards me. I decided that I should film her with my cell phone, so I could show her at a later time just how crazy she was acting. Well she didn't like that, and so she snatched my phone and ran off with it "to delete the videos". It was a silly plan, made more so by the fact that she left her own cell phone inside near me... so I grabbed HER phone. Well that was too much for her. She flipped out, started swinging at me and finally jumped on my back trying to get her phone back from me. Eventually she just ran off and down the road. I thought that was enough of that, so I went back to the dining room to work on my diorama. About 15 minutes goes by, and suddenly there's 4 cops on my patio. Long story short, they convinced me to come out of the locked house, arrested me and took me to jail. I was kept in for the night and saw the judge the next afternoon- and that's when I learned I was being charged with a*****t. It all turned out for the better. I was able to show the judge the videos of how she was acting, and he dropped the whole case. We got divorced, and life moved on. I never got to finish my diorama.

#15

Image source: will_write_for_tacos, Andrew Petrischev / Envato 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.

#16

Image source: Constant_Cow5677, duallogic / Envato Two cops pulled g*ns on my friend and I. He was driving while black and I was white while near a black guy. They pulled us over, approached the car with g*ns drawn and asked why my friend failed to indicate a turn. That was the whole reason for pulling us over with g*ns drawn.

#17

Image source: Glittering-Mud-2498, reddit Throwaway because I've told this story before. A lived in a project growing up. One night a friend of mine met me at my place, and we were going to go to the gym together. My stepfather came home as we were preparing to leave, and shortly after he walked in, we left. As we were walking away from the complex, some guy behind us yelled at us to stop and asked if one of us was named John. We turned around, said no, and were suddenly rushed by 8-10 men. They were yelling at us and telling us we were lying. My friend and I were wondering if we would have to fight our way out of the situation. One of the first things one of them said was "take your hands out of your pockets before I punch you in the face". *Then* after seeing that we had no idea what was happening, the one that presumably had the least amount of lead poisoning decided to tell us they were cops. These f*****g idiots were in plainclothes the whole time. Beards, piercings, carhartt, all that s**t. Just an absolutely psychotic way to begin an interaction. They showed us their badges, and we still didn't really believe them, because who *does that*? They started asking us if one of us was John, and we told them no. Then they asked if the guy in the Canada Goose jacket was John, and we told them we had no idea who they were talking about. Back to yelling and calling us liars. Eventually the brain trust clarified they were talking about the guy who entered the building after my friend and described my stepfather. He had a generic parka on (not a Canada Goose). After all this insanity, it turned out some guy somewhere committed fraud and on whatever forms he filled out, he put down a fake name and gave the address I lived at. These guys, who I can only imagine subsisted on a healthy diet of testosterone and crayons took a half hour to come to the conclusion that maybe the guy committing fraud wasn't stupid enough to put his real address on his paperwork. About 10 years later my city had an incident where 2 plainclothes cops tried to do something similar to a man who had his pregnant wife with him, and he, thinking they were about to get st**bed (because they were next to an active crime scene), drove his car into one of them, killing him. The man was acquitted of all charges. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes I guess.

#18

Image source: QueenieMcGee, KaterinaDalemans / Envato 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.

#19

My son was friends with some kids who lived in a lower income apartment complex. They played rugby and some of their parents couldn’t afford to or weren’t able to drive them because they were working the day shift or didn’t have a car to the matches and practices. I was fortunate enough to be able to get out of work early and drive the boys to each game and practice. One day when picking up the boys a cruiser pulled up behind me blocking me with its lights on and the cop immediately questioned me to what I was doing. You see I had my trunk popped open because I would usually pull up pop the trunk and they would put their gear in my trunk, close it and we would leave. I told the cop this and had me step out of my car and he started looking in my trunk. And when the boys came down he was asking each boy to open their bags. They then wouldn’t let them in my car because they were minors and they wanted to make sure their parents were ok with me driving them. Now some of the boys parents were working and the cops had me stand next to my car while each boy called their parents and he verified they had permission. One boy got super anxious because his parents both worked in a factory and couldn’t get calls, and was afraid he was going to miss his game. The cop saw this and was grilling the kid asking him what he was hiding… I tried to explain to the cop but he had me sit on the curb and not interrupt him again or I could sit in his cruiser and then I knew what was next. The cop was a straight up power tripping d**k for no reason. Then people in the complex started yelling stuff out their windows and the cop got really upset had me stand up and started asking me why I was escalating the situation. Luckily another cop car pulled up and the cops talked and let us go and told the boys next time have a notes or proof they were going to play rugby… they had their jerseys and gear which I guess wasn’t proof enough. Image source: AngryPancakes

#20

Image source: PoorWalmartWorker, mstandret / Envato 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.

#21

Image source: Vic_Gatsby, AZ-BLT / Envato Cop pulled me over saying my tag light was out, which it wasnt because I checked all my lights before leaving my previous destination (my city used to have task forces for the type of vehicle I drove). Upon pulling us over (my 8 year old son was in the car THANKFULLY ASLEEP), he gave his reasoning for pulling me over which i negated and asked to be let out of the vehicle so I can prove I'm right he refused. He then asked if I had weapons, d***s, or child p**n. MIND YOU, my son is sleeping on the passenger seat. I went off. He called back up, I explained the whole exchange, back up was floored by the officer's questioning. I got a ticket for the tag light (which wasn't out... his story changed to "it was dim" though it's a stock light). I fought it in court and explained the entire exchange to the court. Judge let me off. Another cop caught me in the elevator and asked "did he really ask you if you had child p**n?!?!" I said yep! He shook his head.

#22

Image source: Guilty_Spinach_3010, LightFieldStudios / Envato I was in high school and was pulled over one street away from my house later in the evening. I wasn’t speeding or anything, but I was asked if I’d consumed anything or if I had anything in my car. I said no, and the officer asked me to step out and called for back up. My car was searched by d**g dogs and I was nervous that maybe the person we bought the car from had left stuff in it or something. But, they didn’t find anything, and I just went home after that. It was my first time ever being pulled over, and for what it’s worth, I’m a white female, but people have always assumed I do d***s ?‍♀️

#23

Image source: joefred111, Chalabala / Envato Myself and two friends were driving home from a drive-in movie theater. It was a double-feature, so it ended after midnight. We didn't drink, smoke, or speed. The car was registered, insured, inspected, with no lights out. Hell, everyone was wearing their seat belts! I turned a corner and found a car stopped in the right-hand lane (i.e., in the middle of the lane I was driving in) with no lights on. No parking lights, no running lights, no emergency lights, nothing. I quickly stopped and waited for a minute or so. No movement, nothing. At this point I'm a bit weirded out, so I put on my turn signal and start to go around the stopped vehicle. It's a three-lane road with a shared turning lane. As soon as I get into the middle lane, this vehicle's high beams came on and it started moving forward. I immediately stop, as do they. We sat there next to each other for a few moments. I was even more weirded out, so I slowly started to drive off. This vehicle tailgated me for a mile or so. I pulled into a bar parking lot, and the car followed me in and parked me into my spot. That's when I noticed the car had emergency lights on it (the lights weren't turned on) and it was an undercover cop car. Two cops got out. One (a female) immediately screamed, "what the hell is wrong with you?" at me. I'm really confused because I had no idea what I did wrong. They took everyone's IDs and ran them. The lady continued yelling and cursing at me. Eventually she claimed that I "passed a moving vehicle" on a two-lane road; a total lie. She also asked, "What if someone was laying down in the road?", which was (in hindsight) a totally nonsensical question. After holding us up for almost an hour, she huffed, "You'll be getting some paperwork in the mail!" and stormed off. (I never did.) It's been very hard to look at police the same way after that.

#24

Image source: thomasmturner, Hobi industri 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.

#25

Image source: waterloograd, AZ-BLT / Envato Not me but a friend in high school. He was pulled over three Fridays in a row by the same cop while driving home at 3am from his shift at McDonald's. He was wearing his uniform each time. The cop did all the sobriety tests multiple times between blowing in the breathalyzer multiple times. Constantly claiming he was drunk and the unit was just faulty. He was never charged with anything, but I think he had to call the station to get her off his a*s.