Well, I've gone out on hooking up subjects with an arrest warrant. Usually, you know who you are looking for. Sometimes, you haven't met the subject in person so you don't know exactly what he looks like, For example, you go to a domestic assault 911 call, the woman is beat up but the dude took off. You get an arrest warrant and look around for the dude's whereabouts, friend's house, workplace, etc. Since you haven't seen him before, but you have an idea what he looks like, by height, weight and maybe pictures, you still ask a possible subject for his ID to verify. The big thing we were taught is you can't un-arrest someone. You can hold them for investigation. So it's easier to ask for ID, verify it and then let the person go if its not the person you are looking for. It's not unusual to go out looking for someone, have four or five guys hanging out and two guys who look similar in height, weight and description.
That department, if they haven't already, can have a lawsuit on their hands, and those cops involved probably got Internal Affairs investigating that incident if they haven't already done so.
That department, if they haven't already, can have a lawsuit on their hands, and those cops involved probably got Internal Affairs investigating that incident if they haven't already done so.

Not the brightest bunch.