Police Officers

Does a photo show a police officer who reportedly shot a rabbi during a shooting in Montreal in late June 2026? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the woman in the image is a member of the Montreal police; she is Dasha Nekrasova, an American actress, filmmaker, and podcast co-host. Additionally, the shooting victim was not a…

Did U.K.'s Prime Minister Keir Starmer publicly threaten to arrest X owner Elon Musk along with other "336 million Americans"? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed Starmer's public comments about Musk and did not find anything remotely close to what social media attributed to the prime minister. The claim about hundreds of millions to be arrested is implausible on…

Does a video from June 2026 show a fire lit by rioters in Belfast, Northern Ireland after a knife attack incident involving a refugee from Sudan? No, that's not true: The video predates the June 8, 2026, knife attack in Belfast. Video of the individuals setting fire to a home was originally published on X almost a year ago, on…

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…