Two San Francisco police officers thought they had spotted a stolen car one night in July 2024. After stopping the vehicle, they smashed in a window, dragged out the driver and then tackled, pepper sprayed and handcuffed him.
They had the wrong man.
The officers had typed the car’s license plate number incorrectly into their patrol car’s computer system.
A city agency that investigates complaints against the police said on Tuesday that the officers had used “excessive force” during the mistaken arrest of Matthew Ludwig, the driver. They violated multiple policies, the agency said in a report, including spraying him at close range and drawing a firearm without cause.
Despite the case of mistaken identity, prosecutors spent over a year seeking to convict Mr. Ludwig for reckless driving and resisting arrest. Fourteen months after the traffic stop, he was found dead in Kentucky, of an apparent suicide…
According to the complaint, the officers realized only after Mr. Ludwig was handcuffed that they had entered the license plate number incorrectly. But they proceeded to arrest him anyway.
The public defender’s office said that Mr. Ludwig could not afford the impound fee necessary to recover his car and that the city had sold it at auction. Prosecutors then charged him with reckless driving and resisting arrest.
Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/us/san-francisco-police-t...
Excerpt:
Two San Francisco police officers thought they had spotted a stolen car one night in July 2024. After stopping the vehicle, they smashed in a window, dragged out the driver and then tackled, pepper sprayed and handcuffed him.
They had the wrong man.
The officers had typed the car’s license plate number incorrectly into their patrol car’s computer system.
A city agency that investigates complaints against the police said on Tuesday that the officers had used “excessive force” during the mistaken arrest of Matthew Ludwig, the driver. They violated multiple policies, the agency said in a report, including spraying him at close range and drawing a firearm without cause.
Despite the case of mistaken identity, prosecutors spent over a year seeking to convict Mr. Ludwig for reckless driving and resisting arrest. Fourteen months after the traffic stop, he was found dead in Kentucky, of an apparent suicide…
According to the complaint, the officers realized only after Mr. Ludwig was handcuffed that they had entered the license plate number incorrectly. But they proceeded to arrest him anyway.
The public defender’s office said that Mr. Ludwig could not afford the impound fee necessary to recover his car and that the city had sold it at auction. Prosecutors then charged him with reckless driving and resisting arrest.