Police reports following a disturbance at a busy city shopping centre show that eyewitness testimonies can be highly unreliable.
Witnesses were interviewed in groups shortly after the incident, where many reported high levels of anxiety. They claimed to have seen a teenager wearing a dark hoodie deliberately smash a display cabinet and flee from security guards. They also claimed the suspect had a weapon concealed under their waistband.
However, CCTV footage later revealed that an elderly shopper had accidentally knocked over a glass perfume display, and a teenager in a green hoodie had simply bent down to help pick up the broken glass. He was carrying a rolled-up magazine, which witnesses misremembered as a weapon. No security guards were in the immediate vicinity at the time. When interviewing the witnesses, officers had used leading questions, asking 'Which way did the teenager run to escape security?'
Based on a newspaper article.
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