SFPD officer smashed driver's car window, pepper-sprayed him during 2024 stop based on license-plate error

Around 11:30 p.m. on July 4, 2024, San Francisco police officers Vinesh Govindbhai and Jonathan Zepeda began following Matthew Ludwig's Honda Accord in the Tenderloin after entering a license plate number into their patrol computer that matched a Toyota, not Ludwig's car, and concluding the vehicle was stolen. When Ludwig stopped at a red light at O'Farrell Street, the officers did not activate their lights or siren, order him to pull over, or check whether his door was unlocked. Instead, Govindbhai ran to the car, smashed the driver's-side window with a baton, opened the unlocked door, and pulled Ludwig out by his sweatshirt onto the pavement. With Ludwig's left arm pinned beneath him, one officer threatened to pepper-spray him if he did not move his right arm behind his back while the other placed a knee on his head; officers then pepper-sprayed Ludwig in the face from roughly inches away, well inside the department's 4.5-foot minimum distance policy.

Only after handcuffing Ludwig did the officers realize they had entered the wrong license plate number. They booked him anyway, and the San Francisco District Attorney's Office charged him with reckless driving and resisting arrest. Ludwig could not afford the fee to recover his impounded car, and the city later sold it at auction; days later, an RV he shared with his girlfriend was also towed, leaving him with almost none of his property. The San Francisco Public Defender's Office Integrity Unit filed an excessive- force complaint with the Department of Police Accountability (DPA) on Ludwig's behalf in May 2025. Ludwig died in September 2025, of undisclosed causes, before the complaint was resolved; the District Attorney's Office dropped the charges shortly afterward.

Updates

2026-03 — DPA sustained findings of officer misconduct [1, 2, 3]

The DPA completed its investigation and sustained allegations that Govindbhai and Zepeda violated SFPD policy by conducting the stop, using excessive force, pepper- spraying Ludwig, and issuing him a citation, all without cause. As of the report's public release, it remained unclear whether either officer had faced discipline; both remained employed by SFPD.

2026-08-10 — Public Defender's Office made the findings public; called for further review [1, 2, 4]

The San Francisco Public Defender's Office publicly released the DPA's findings and called on SFPD leadership and the Police Commission to act on them. SFPD declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The office said it was seeking further review by the San Francisco Police Commission.