Misidentification Mistaken observations are actually quite common. When witnesses to a crime are asked to identify the suspect, many times the witnesses are not sure or misidentify the wrong person. Sometimes police need another person in a lineup so they throw in a cop and there has been cases when that cop was picked by the witnesses to a crime. What causes this? There are actually several different reasons. One is the witness may have keyed in on a particular trait of the criminal without remembering his features and if someone in the lineup seems to have that trait, they are picked. It could be as simple as a facial mark or scar or perhaps something with their teeth for example. Mistakes in identification can be costly, just ask anyone who has been convicted of a crime and spent time in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. DNA testing has freed a few of these people, but more needs to be done. Misidentification doesn’t only take place in criminal cases; it happens in many different instances. One which comes to mind is the misidentification of objects in the sky. Quite a few UFO reports are nothing more than planes seen from odd angles which make them look like something other than they are. I am not saying that all UFO sightings are due to misidentification, but some definitely are. Sometimes when a plane is seen its position in the sky can actually hide the fact it has wings, making it look more like a cylinder. When we look at different things, we are not actually seeing the object in real time. It takes a fraction of a second for the image to get to our brain and get processed. As we look at it our brains fill in missing parts in a way it thinks things should look. This causes us to see things like faces in the clouds and objects in terrain which are not there. Scientists are finding out the brain might even fill in some colors. This is why sometimes people can not agree in what is in a photo when it is taken of a particular piece of land. Some will swear they see a face or some other feature even though it has been proven there is no face there. One example of this is The Badlands Guardian. In an area in Medicine Hat in Alberta, Canada is something which many swear is a giant carving of a native in full head dress. Others think it is just a trick which our brains are playing on us. One of the places misidentification can be truly dangerous is in the field of medicine. Unfortunately, this happens far too many times. It is especially bad when it happens in the hospital. It happened to me many years ago and almost killed me. I am allergic to penicillin to the point where a shot will probably kill me. I was in a military hospital and just happened to wake up as a nurse was about to give me an injection. I asked her what she was doing and she said giving me my penicillin shot. I stopped her and told her I was allergic. I found out a different patient had the same last name. The are horror stories about these situations everywhere. Did you ever go to an auto parts store and order a specific part to do your own auto repair? I have and I know others who also have. There are times when mistakes are made and you might be given a part which looks correct and yet it doesn’t work properly or maybe even fit. The part was misidentified by the parts clerk. This can be especially frustrating when you think you have the correct part and your are either trying to make it fit, or it fits but does not perform to the standards set for it. It can cost you hours of lost labor and in extreme cases cause even harm to your vehicle’s parts. The wrong parts in an airplane can cause even worse havoc and maybe even death. In 2013 a single engine plane crashed into a supermarket killing all onboard. The plane wreck was examined by the FAA and it was found the wrong parts had been installed on the engine causing the engine to stall and the plane to fall out of the sky and crash. When an engine stalls in a car that is one thing, but the same stall in a plane can cause a far greater tragedy. Not all plane crashes in other countries are examined as carefully as here or examined at all. One has to wonder how many crashed because of the wrong parts being installed. It was believed the Space Shuttle Columbia was in perfect shape for reentry into the atmosphere. It had several lives aboard. The shuttle had a cursory examination made of it and somehow it was misidentified as being in good shape. What had failed to be noticed was the fact there was wing damage from debris. As the shuttle entered the atmosphere the unthinkable happened, the space shuttle disintegrated taking the lives of the entire crew. Misidentification of an event or object can be deadly at times. Sometimes it might seem as no big deal, but can lead to tremendous consequences. Take for example the release of the wrong people from prison. A known rapist in Georgia was released in error from the Rogers State Prison in Reidsville, Georgia. Prisoners are misidentified a lot more than one would guess. This can be caused by several reasons. One might be the wrong record was being used. Another might be the prisoner was released in error because he had several cases and was being released on one but held on the others, or it could just be as simple as they released the wrong person. A murderer was released in error from Rikers Island Jail, in New York City. It was said this happened due to a clerical error. Eight days later a second prisoner was released in error from Rikers Island in 2021. He had been arrested for attempted murder. There was a famous movie titled, Catch Me If You Can about a man who fooled many people into misidentifying him as different professional people. It was a true story. He was misidentified as an airline pilot, a doctor, prosecutor, and many others. He conned people into thinking he was eight different people over his career. As a pilot he never actually flew a plane but deadheaded as a passenger for free all over the world. As a doctor he supervised until the situation got too serious one day, so he left. Misidentification takes place all the time and in many different ways.
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