AIBU?
To have felt very uncomfortable
Sexnotgender · 11/05/2021 08:45
My husband and I witnessed an accident recently.
Phoned the police to report it and gave statements later.
Police asked if I thought I could ID the driver if they came back with photos. I said possibly, it all happened very quickly and the driver fled the scene.
Police came by the next day with 12 pictures on a piece of paper and were very clearly pointing me towards a particular one whilst saying “of course we can’t influence your choice” 
Is this normal?!
Interestingly they asked to come inside rather than do it on the doorstep where our ring doorbell records. But they were happy to take our statements on the doorstep.
It made me so uncomfortable! However I want the driver held to account as he had no license or insurance and could easily have killed us or someone else.
Am I just naive?
Am I being unreasonable?
AIBUYou have one vote. All votes are anonymous.
Sexnotgender · 11/05/2021 09:23
@Hopdathelf
I didn’t really have enough time to study them all. I possibly would have picked them.
Actually my husband picked them and after the police left I said how uncomfortable it made me and he said he hadn’t noticed what they were doing!
mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 11/05/2021 09:32
Very tricky one. If you and/or your husband are sure that the one your husband picked was the offending driver and you then report the officers' attempt to steer your choice, the driver could potentially have grounds for charges to be dropped, which I think from your wording in op is what you have realised too.
Sexnotgender · 11/05/2021 09:43
@MindtheBelleek
Don’t really want to give that level of detail but it was very clear to me that I was being steered towards a particular person.
I did feel a bit rushed.
I could confidently say who it wasn’t from the pictures shown but there were maybe 2 pictures where I thought it could have been either of them. One was the correct one.
2bazookas · 11/05/2021 10:38
The only time I was asked to ID a criminal, the police brought a photo album with multiple pages of mugshots. The officer remained completely neutral as I flipped through it. I had seen the man full face at close range in broad daylight and had no problem picking him out.
After I'd picked him the officer told me my neighbour had just picked the same guy.
MargaretThursday · 11/05/2021 12:23
I would wonder as your dh didn't notice whether this is a bit of confirmation bias.
Because you thought it was that one you read into the officer's words/actions a bias that maybe wasn't there.
I'd have thought they wouldn't want it recorded on ring doorbells in case the video picked up the pictures and you then showed others/posted it on social media.
TaraR2020 · 11/05/2021 12:24
Formally complain / report it.
Its for the trial to establish / confirm guilt, leading the witnesses is serious and you have no idea how much evidence there is against him or how robust the investigation has been.
Someone's life is likely to be ruined here, they deserve to be treated fairly.
Additionally, if they do this in this case, how many other investigations have they attempted to influence?
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