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Mistaken Identity: Police Tell Family to Lie Face Down in Middle of the Freeway

Published Aug 20, 2010 12:00 AM

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Talk about a vacation story! A family heading out of town to go camping this morning was pulled over by police who believed their van was stolen. But what they and police eventually figured out was that the license plate had been unknowingly swapped.

At about 5:45 a.m., the LAPD saw the white van and ran its license plate, finding it was reported to be stolen. They soon pulled the car over on the 405 freeway near the Rinaldi Avenue exit. "One-by-one, family members got out of the car with their hands in the air and were instructed to lie face down in the middle of the freeway," reported KTLA. "They were placed in handcuffs and taken into custody for questioning."

Once everyone realized the license plate had been switched with a stolen vehicle's one, they family was released. KTLA caught the whole thing on video

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Mistaken Identity: Police Tell Family to Lie Face Down in Middle of the Freeway