Dr. Insanity - When Cops Arrest The Wrong Person

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

These are times When Cops Arrest The Wrong Person Subscribe for more true crime! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cops have little to no room for error in their job, having to deal with life or death situations daily. But what happens when the cops mess up and accidentally arrest the wrong person? Hey, yo, that's a bullshit. Get up, put your hands on the car. Starting with the controversial case of Patrick Mumford. Patrick was just getting back home when two officers confronted him claiming there were warrants out for his arrest. What the cops didn't realize, though, is that the warrants were for a completely different man. But this didn't seem to bother them.

What's your name? I'm going to ask you one more time. We probably need to talk to you. So what's the next? Patrick? Stand up. Tramp with your hands. What happened?

Patrick is justifiably nervous here after suddenly being confronted by multiple police officers, but still manages to give the cops his name. However, they decide that they don't believe him, and instead of asking for an ID or trying to confirm his identity in any way, they immediately decide to do this instead. What I do? Man, what I do? Y'all ain't telling me what I do, man.

You got him born. He just came back from his probation officer. I got, I got Taser. You coming out? You coming out? Come out. Get your hand out now. You got three seconds.

Hold on man. Three seconds. Do not reach, get up, put your hands on the car. Come out. Two. Right, Taiton. Get off, get off. Move.

You coming out or not? Come out, you've got a warrant. Come out, you've got a warrant. You got a warrant. You better get out of the car. Get out of the car. Get out of the car. Get out of the car. I move, Fox. Move. It took just 38 seconds from the police making first contact to giving the order to tase him.

According to the cops, Patrick was given numerous, reasonable opportunities to comply. with officers. But because of his resistance, they were left with no choice but to stun him. But even after being tased and detained, the cops still aren't finished roughing Patrick up. He keeps reaching for his back. He keeps reaching for his back. The cops searched Patrick. The cops search Patrick to show him. to try and find whatever he was reaching for, assuming he was hiding a weapon of his own.

But predictably, they find nothing other than his wallet. This would end up being a blessing for Patrick, though, as inside his wallet, the cops found his ID. Patrick Mumford. Hasn't he not going to tell me that I got a warrant. I just seen her. Here's the deal, dude. How long I had a warrant? I don't know if you got a warrant, because you're not who I'm looking for it.

But here's the deal. When we ask you for ID, because you look a lot like the person. You give us ID, and when you start this whole fight nonsense, dude, what you had to do is give me this. Remember, the cops never once asked me out of nowhere. Remember, the cops never once asked for Patrick's ID during the initial interaction. In a later report, the cops also stated that they were worried he was reaching for a weapon when he was shuffling back in the car.

So, do you think they would have been okay with him reaching into his back pocket for his wallet? He wasn't given any chance to correctly identify himself, but now the cop is patronizing him and saying, he caught a case he didn't need to get, and above all, he's still being manhandled and forced onto the hood of their patrol vehicle. What's the guy named? Is there someone here to stay here that looks like you think about it? Hey, Jack, you got something looking for.

Tell him. Who does he look a lot like? I don't know. He knows who it is. So who is it? Michael? He is not Michael. Okay, I know that now.

Oh, they thought he was my son? Yes. Really? They don't even look nothing right. It did besides. They need anything. They look exactly. Oh, wow.

I'm looking at that picture on me. Don't they look like? For the record, this is the man they're looking for. It's difficult to draw even a single similarity in appearance, but the cops apparently saw so many that they were comfortable with discharging a weapon at Patrick. Patrick was initially charged with obstruction and violating probation and was fixed to lose his job and position at college. Thankfully though, an internal investigation was launched into the four officers on the scene

and it was concluded that they didn't follow proper procedure. All four of the officers were suspended and Patrick was awarded with a settlement of $100,000. But David Wiggins' story doesn't have such a happy ending. He was pulled over and forced out of his vehicle with not so much as a second thought from the police. But they failed to realize he too was the completely wrong guy. Hand out of the window. Take your hand up in the door. Get on the ground.

On the ground. Did you just run for me? Sir Craig? All right, put your hands on your back. David was put into cuffs and left on the ground at gunpoint after cops mistook him for a suspect. Apparently the guy they were looking for had just fled them in a similar car with a similar license plate. And the cops pulled David over assuming it was the same vehicle. vehicle. It's an understandable mistake, but realistically, the cops should have double-checked

the plate as soon as they lost line of sight. Instead, they decided to wait until David was on the ground, handcuffed, and at gunpoint, before even attempting to confirm he was their guy. I was going home. I did not run. I swear. You're good. that's scary you got almost the same tag same car he must have passed you going through you good all right you have a good one okay i'm sorry about that david was offered little other than an apology for the whole ordeal and was sent on his way after being correctly identified as the wrong guy but that wasn't enough for david and in july of 2003 decided to file a lawsuit against the city of marion claiming gross negligence civil assault, battery, and false imprisonment.

In the complaint, David alleges that he was forced to endure three minutes handcuffed on the ground with a gun to his head, not knowing if the next second would be his last. He also notes that the apology was a mockery. As of this video's upload, the case is still ongoing. However, when this cop in Florida was faced with the same situation, he managed to show exactly how you should handle it. I'm not trying to get a shot over this. Do you really think we want to be out here killing people?

A deputy in Volusia County was looking for a burglar when he stumbled upon Joseph Griffin, a man who, he said, perfectly matched the description. There is a burglary that happened. You kind of fit the description. Let me just make sure that you're not him, okay? All right? I'm not bad. I have my ID.

Okay. Can I see your ID? Yeah. You literally, they said white tank top, black shorts. And they said that you had a beard, all right? So I'm not saying it's you. But it was a black male. Again, not saying it to you, buddy.

This cop is obviously aware of how difficult this very interaction can be, especially if it turns out he's not who he's looking for. So he approaches him politely and attempts to resolve the situation rather than escalate it. Bear with me, okay? Because you fit the description, I'm not saying you're guilty, but my sergeant's telling me to detain you. That's my sergeant. I got you.

I just had a daughter born two days ago, so I just have this one live. It's live? Do you mind, do you mind setting it down here? Because for now, I'm going to detain you. You're not under arrest. I'm detaining you right now because you fit the description, okay? Just same time for me, okay, buddy? Joseph respectfully informs the cop that he's live streaming the interaction for his own safety before being detained.

He's also told that he's not under arrest and not being charged with anything. They just don't want to give him the opportunity to run should he end up being the suspect. We're not saying it's you, but you fit the description. That's why I'm detaining you. If it's not you, we're going to cut you loose and you're free to go, okay? But I just want you to see through us why, you know... Seven cops are doing, hey, everything going on, is this a little bit scary? Yep.

Now you're going to. It was a burglary. It's a burglary. It's serious. It's not a joke. These guys that are getting ready to go home and we're coming in. So that's why you have so many. The cops are doing their best to put Joseph at ease.

But you can still imagine how stressful of a situation this would be. He's doing a good job at staying respectful and composed, but you can definitely still tell he's on edge. We appreciate you. appreciate you being very cooperative. Other people would have just... I'm not trying to get a shot over this. You ain't going to get it back. Seriously, do you really think we want to be out here killing people? Do you honestly think that? I'm a military police. Like I said, brother, I've been in the same boat. After just 10 minutes of waiting, they hear back

from the witness who had just received a picture of Joseph. So good news for you, the witness is saying that the clothes you're wearing and all that doesn't fit the description. It's called a show up. So we got a picture. Again, he's going to run it through, make sure it's not you. And from what it looks like, buddy, you'll be out of here, okay? A show-up is a method of identification where a witness is presented with a single suspect and simply asked if that's their guy. It's also worth mentioning that when looking for a suspect at large, police will only receive a quick rundown of the suspect's appearance.

Adding extra details can create confusion and even cause cops to let the perpetrators go if they miss something small. This is why the description may seem vague and leads to false positives. just like this one is starting to look like. What's your name, man? Joseph. Joseph. Hey, man, look, Jake. Just want to say thank you for keeping a cool, good demeanor.

We just got the picture finally from the witness, and it is. I get why they went out with you for sure. Clearly not you, but the clothing description of everything matched. So, obviously, these guys didn't have that to go with. They just had a description of the match. It's pretty good. And once we finally got the picture from the video surveillance and stuff, it was like, no, that's not.

That's what I call them. I get them out of April. I appreciate these point of understanding. Just like that, Joseph was sent on his way back to his wife and daughter with no further action taken against anyone at the scene. Later that day, the suspect was found and arrested. Both cases in this video so far have involved fairly innocuous crimes. But that's all about to change in this next case, where a man is falsely accused of robbing a bank and shooting a man in the head. You're not going to tell me how to talk, all right?

You shut your fucking motherfucking mouth. In the early hours of the 23rd of April, 2002, Grand Johnson, The injunction police received a frightening phone call. 9-01-1-1-7-2-1-7-2. 7-4 Horizon Drive. I heard gunshots outside on Horizon Drive within a minute ago. How many did you hear? Probably four or five.

Later that morning, police received a second call from a nearby hospital, making them aware of a patient who had walked in on their own with a gunshot wound to the head. It was determined that he was injured on Horizon Drive, the same streets the gunshots were heard on at 3 a.m. A few hours later, a man named Aaron, headed to the gas station to stock up on supplies for a marksmanship event he was attending that day. Unfortunately for him, the gas station was too, located on Horizon Drive. I went to a gas station this morning, they grabbed the stuff, and they were saying there was a shooting at 3 o'clock in the morning. So they have traffic blocked going out on the 70, so we might want

to look to see if that's going to impact our route. Little did Aaron know, traffic would be the least of his worries that day. After stopping at the gas station, he heads back to his hotel. to charge his phone. On the way there, he misses an exit, so he uses his blinker to make a U-turn in front of the police blockade. He parks up for five minutes to charge his phone, waits for his friend to show up in his car, then stops at another gas station to wait for his other friends to turn up. It's at this point, Aaron is approached by police. Can I help you? Yeah. Do you run down your window real quick? No. What do you need? I need you to identify yourself. No, why? Uh, because...

You're leaving the area. Hold on. Hold on. Okay, well, can you please roll down your window more so I can talk to you? No. What do you need? All right, well, I need to identify you. No, you do not.

My name is Officer Posada with the Grand Junction Police Department. And this is my corporal right here. This is Corporal Church as well. Okay. All right, so I need you identify yourself. No, that's not how it works. I have rights as an American citizen, right? What Aaron is saying is completely true, and he is well within his rights to refuse to identify himself.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean it's always the best idea. Regardless, in this situation, Aaron clearly wishes to exercise this right, to which the cop isn't best pleased. This is when things start to escalate quickly. You do not have articulable suspicion that I've done anything. I actually do. What crime do you suspect me of committing? Possible attempted homicide.

You suspect me, actual me, of committing possible attempted homicide. Well, your cooperative behavior right now does not help your cause. I've done absolutely nothing. I pulled into a gas ditching because my friends are here because we're going to... The chief and I, they're associated. At this point, Corporal Church heads over to Aaron's friends where he discovers that his name is indeed Aaron, and that it matches up with the registration on the vehicle. Meanwhile, Officer Posadas attempts to shed a little more light on why Aaron is being highlighted as a suspect.

Right. Exactly. Exactly. with a similar colored vehicle, similar nature to the description. A white description of that vehicle did you get? I got a dark and colored sedan. Two people also stated that one of the suspects may be of African American descent. With this information, you can see how a cop would suspect Aaron.

He's a black male in a similar vehicle. But things start to get much stranger as you dive deeper. In the official report, it was determined there were actually two suspects, one white and one black. And a more detailed report of the vehicle describes a car more similar to the car more similar to the one that Aaron's friends are driving. It seems as though the cops are ignoring every sign and targeting Aaron for no reason,

something that only becomes more obvious as they allow his friends to leave, but keep Aaron at the scene. My buddies that just left, they were also in a dark stand, but you aren't fucking stopping them and questioning them. Okay, well, I'm sorry. Nope.

Shut your fucking mouth. I don't want to fucking talk. You're not going to tell me how to talk, all right? You shut your fucking motherfucking mouth. Corp, we'll come up here. It's not working. He's currently recording on his phone, but he's highly uncooperative with me, screaming and yelling at me, told him that his vehicle matches the description and he gave in, blah, blah, blah. He's very, uh, very upset right now.

Why are you not cooperative? Because I don't, I don't have to be cooperative with your investigation. Well, you have to ID yourself. No, I do not. Tell me why I have the ID. Well, calling out of state law says you do. I want you to explain why. I, me as a person, have to ID to you.

The cops continue to ask for Aaron's name, despite having already been told by his friends and realizing it matches up with the name on the vehicle. But perhaps the funniest part of this entire interaction is what happens when Aaron instead asks for the sergeant's name. What's your name of your best name? What's your name of your best number? Well, I'm not going to give that to you.

You have to. No. Yes, you do. No. You are a public servant. I'm asking for your name of that number. So I have to give me your name. No, I do not.

Okay. So you wanted me to explain to you why I'm asking for you to identify yourself? Yes, man. Because we had an incident happen here. Wait, hold on. First, please give me your name or your back. Okay. Well, no, I won't give you that right now.

What do you mean? You won't. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's important to note that the Grand Junction Police Department require police officers to identify themselves upon request. But the sergeant later claimed he simply forgot. Aaron was never made aware of why they targeted him so directly at the But in the official police report, the cops say that the reason they suspected Aaron was because of the U-turn he made.

Remember, he simply missed his exit to the hotel, and there the road ahead of him was closed, leaving him with nowhere else to go. They also alleged that he didn't use a turn signal for the maneuver, something that can easily be disproved by listening to Aaron's dash cam footage. As you'd expect, an internal affairs investigation was launched into the officers at the scene, and it was conducted that there was no wrongdoing, and the cops conducted themselves perfectly. Aaron has since launched his own lawsuit against the Grand Junction Police Department, but as of this video's upload, the investigation is still ongoing. Check out Aaron's channel linked below for updates on the situation.