Police Officers

Does a real image show the "claw" hand of a police officer arresting fatally stabbed student Henry Nowak in Southampton, England, in December 2025? No, that's not true: The image circulating on social media is an edited screenshot from a video released by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary. Lead Stories reviewed the original video and found that at…

Did police find a male prostitute dead in the Indiana home of Mike Pence? No, that's not true: There is no news reporting of an incident such as this. This false news story originated from a Facebook page that lists its category as "comedian". The story has spread to other social media platforms without the comedy disclaimer. The story originated…

Is the story of a Memphis man arrested for scratching off every scratch-off ticket at a Germantown Exxon station real? No, that's not true: Lead Stories did not find any records corroborating the tale, which originated on social media platforms. Two AI detection tools concluded the text was AI-generated. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by @Soaringeagle45…

Does a video show the arrest of a woman who reportedly called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on men fixing her roof? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the woman's arrest at the beginning of the clip is connected to the detention of the men by ICE later in the video. An ICE spokesperson told Lead Stories…

Does a video show plainclothes ICE agents arresting a woman at a gate at San Francisco International Airport on March 22, 2026? Yes, that's true: A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Lead Stories that two women-- not one --were arrested. The spokesperson said the women attempted to flee and resisted officers. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Was Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested 666 days after blood-soaked horses associated with the Royal Family escaped in London? Yes, that's true: The former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on February 19, 2026. This came 666 days after a separate incident on April 24, 2024, in which five horses from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment threw…

Does a viral post correctly describe two criminal cases when it claims "three British men" were jailed longer than an "illegal migrant rapist" asylum seeker they protested against? No, that's not true: According to court records, the men were caught on video clashing with the police, and the judge made it clear that it was not protesting that brought them…

Has a video interview of Alex Pretti talking about how he kicked out the taillight of an SUV used by federal agents emerged and sent "shockwaves through the public"? No, that's not true: No such video has been found. The quotes are all made up. The website and Facebook pages spreading the claim are part of a spam network based…

Did Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey tell Vice President J.D. Vance to "go fuck a couch" in an X post? No, that's not true: Vance did quote a real post from Frey on X in a discussion about law enforcement and other people needing to feel safe calling 911, but the reply suggesting intercourse with a piece of furniture came from…

Did a social media post correctly report that anti-ICE protesters at a hotel in Minneapolis started "beating up the staff because two ICE officers were staying there" and that local police were absent from the scene? No, that's not true: A receptionist told Lead Stories that the hotel's employees weren't harmed and that the police were present during the protest.…