Had it happen first hand, they were more interested in me even though I was a victim of it.
Smashed into by an offroad bike, a bit of a scuffle and the police ring me up saying "they have said you stole their bike", "who said that","the people who were on the bike","how would I steal it, i was in my car".
A few months later I got a letter saying they couldn't prove who was on the bike and it was being dropped. I told them names and addresses of the people on the bike. Off to do it again, I have to pay for repairs to my car.
Like you say, it will happen where they try to bother the wrong person and end up getting killed.