Man was arrested for six days over faulty facial recognition tech: lawsuit

A black man visiting his mother in Atlanta was wrongfully arrested and held for six days after facial recognition technology incorrectly identified him as a fraudster and thief in Louisiana, according to the latest lawsuit aimed against the controversial tech.

Randal Quran Reid, 29, was visiting his mother on Thanksgiving last year when DeKalb County police pulled him over, claiming he had two arrest warrants against him for crimes in Jefferson and East Baton Rouge Parishes, according to the lawsuit filed in Atlanta federal court in September.

“I was confused and I was angry because I didn’t know what was going on,” Quran told the AP, as he tried to explain to the officers that he has never even been to Louisiana.

Despite his pleas, Reid was arrested and detained for nearly a week as police readied him to be extradited to the Pelican State.

Unbeknownst to him at the time, Reid was being held after Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detective Andrew Bartholomew determined that he was the lead suspect in a New Orleans robbery in June 2022, when a stolen credit card was used to buy two purses valued at more than $8,000 each.

Bartholomew allegedly identified Reid solely through the use of facial recognition technology that matched surveillance video of the perp to Reid’s driver’s license, the lawsuit states.

“Bartholomew did not conduct even a basic search into Mr. Reid, which would have revealed that Mr. Reid was in Georgia when the theft occurred,” the suit reads.

Fortunately for Reid, his family and attorneys were able to verify his identity, presenting evidence that the real suspect of the robbery was much heavier than Reid and did not have his mole.

Reid has now accused Bartholomew of false arrest, malicious prosecution and negligence, with Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto also accused of failing to implement adequate regulations around the use of facial recognition technology.

The Sheriff’s Office was warned that they could not issue arrest warrants solely based on facial recognition tech, according to an internal email following Reid’s arrest that was highlighted in the lawsuit.

The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on the case, saying it does not discuss pending litigation.

Close to a year after his ordeal, Reid said the detainment still haunts him as he thinks about what could have happened if his family didn’t act in time.

“There’s always risk when you go to jail, but I felt more in danger when I was being detained because I know it was for something I didn’t do,” Reid told ABC News. “I lost faith in the justice system to know that you could be locked up for something that you’ve never done.”

Reid’s case is not an isolated incident, as he is just one of at least five black plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against authorities in recent years over the use of facial recognition technology, which has been accused of misidentifying people of color at a significantly higher rate than their white counterparts.

In August, Porcha Woodruff, a mother of three, filed a lawsuit against Detroit Police when they arrested her for robbery and carjacking while she was eight-months pregnant.

Woodruff eventually learned she was being “implicated as a suspect” from a photo lineup shown to the victim following an “unreliable facial recognition match,” according to the court documents filed at the US District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan.