Police detained a teen on his way to a haircut, claiming his clothes matched a bank robber. The GPS data pointed somewhere else
The incident left a scar on Galileo's life. He even had to transfer schools and leave his studies midway
Most people have a hard time recalling what they wore two days ago. But a mistake by Boulder police officers ensured Galileo Wise would never forget that day. Galileo Wise will remember what he wore on June 5, 2025, for the rest of his life. 17 at the time, Wise was riding up a hill on his bike for a haircut appointment near the University of Colorado Boulder when all of a sudden, the police stopped him. The police had miscalculated his tan hooded sweatshirt, turquoise pants, and the bike itself as clues to a bank robbery suspect they were tracking. After being released, Wise sued the officers. The case of mistaken identity has received more than 43,000 views in just five days, also shared in a July 28, 2026 report by 9News.
Guilty until proven innocent
At about 14:45 on June 5, 2025, Wise was riding under the bridge near Broadway College when a police officer extended his arm and ordered him to stop his bike. Before the teenager could make sense of any of it, the officers pushed him to the ground with his hands folded behind his back, handcuffed. The bodycam footage, obtained by 9News, recorded officer Austin Myers telling Wise, “There was a robbery earlier. You’re matching the description of that guy.”
Case of mistaken identity
According to the police’s account, the confusion happened because of Wise’s clothing, but as it turned out, it was just recklessness on their part. Police were told that the documented description of the suspect reportedly included “tan skin, sunglasses, green shirt,” which was nowhere close to what Wise was wearing. To amplify their suspicions even more, the GPS location they were tracking pointed to a spot near Starbucks, quite close to where Wise was. The bodycam footage shows an officer later yelling, “That’s not him.” Another officer was recorded as saying, “That’s not our guy.” But even after Wise was cleared of the suspicion, he was detained for approximately eight minutes.
After he got out, Wise filed a lawsuit against the officers with the help of his attorney Dan Williams. “To lie and say that they match the clothes exactly and match the location exactly, that’s just unacceptable,” Williams explained to the news outlet, “Just because someone’s in the area where a criminal may be in the same area doesn’t mean you can stop them.” Ultimately, the police ended up arresting the true suspect, but the incident left a bruise on Wise’s emotions that won’t be erased for a long time.
'I was not able to complete my senior year'
“I don’t really know how I’d describe it, but just feeling like the police are less trustworthy than how I saw them before,” Wise confessed. He added that the incident would haunt him every time he wears the same clothes again. And even though a sergeant was accused of wrongdoing, Wise said the experience continued to affect him long after the stop. According to the report, Wise admitted, "Due to that concussion, I was not able to complete my senior year at the high school that I had. I had to transfer schools."
Even when someone is never charged with a crime, being wrongly accused or detained can have lasting psychological effects. In a study published in Sage Choice, researchers identified eight physical and psychological challenges that these individuals go through, including loss of identity, stigma, attitudes towards the justice system, and post-traumatic stress disorder, not to forget the layers of internal resentment, frustration, anger, and dissonance.
He'll never trust the police again
In the comments, viewers roasted police for being too hasty in their search and hurting the innocent teen in the process. @Ascension646 commented, “Lol if you can mistake a balding 40-year-old dude as a 17-year-old teen with a full head of hair... You pass the certification exam.” @dantizzle00 made an interesting observation from the bodycam footage: “The most fascinating part, though we haven't seen the full footage, is how the actual robber was sitting and talking calmly on the bench while the 17-year-old was aggressively handled.”
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