A police department neat St. Louis, Missouri is publicly apologizing to a black college student, who was severely beaten by officers after they wrongfully accused him of a crime.

Joseph Swink, 22, suffered a rash of cuts, bruises and lacerations to his face on Jan. 16 after he crashed his vehicle to avoid cops pursuing a suspect wanted on 17 warrants, only to be mistaken for the criminal himself and savagely taken into custody, KMOV reports.

"They ended up grabbing him, tossing him to the ground, and were trying to handcuff him," St. Ann Police Department Chief Aaron Jimenez said. "All the sirens and lights were going off. It was very loud, and they couldn't hear anything the citizen was saying."

An accounting major at the nearby university of Missouri-St. Louis, Swink has no criminal record and was on his way home from his internship when he was apprehended. Swink's vehicle was totaled in the incident, and he reportedly suffered severe damage to his ear.

"I never really had 100 percent trust in police before, but I really don't now," Swink said.

Police later nabbed Anton Simmons in connection with the string of crimes of which they had wrongly accused Swink, and he is now being held on $100,000 bond.

The incident comes as yet another black-eye for members of Missouri law enforcement, coming on the heels of the Ferguson Police Department being roundly criticized for actions officers took regarding the August shooting death of black teenager Michael Brown.

The 18-year-old, unarmed Brown was killed during a confrontation with now ex-officer Darren Wilson. At the time he was fatally wounded, some witnesses still insist he was attempting to surrender to the officer. The incident sparked angry protests and demonstrations across much of the state and even led to some looting and other violence in several nearby communities.

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