Priya PatelTLDR: A man named Harvey Murphy is suing Sunglass Hut after being wrongfully arrested for robbery due to faulty AI facial recognition technology. The facial recognition device identified Murphy as the burglar when he was actually thousands of miles away in Sacramento, California at the time of the crime. Murphy also claims that he was brutally sexually assaulted in jail just hours before his release after the charges against him were dropped. He is seeking $10 million in damages for his wrongful imprisonment.
A lawsuit filed by Murphy alleges that his arrest was the result of gross negligence from the facial recognition company. The incident occurred in October 2022 when two men robbed a Sunglass Hut store in Texas. Facial recognition software identified Murphy as the burglar and even linked him to additional robberies. However, the complaint argues that the store clerk incorrectly identified Murphy after being “prepped” by Sunglass Hut’s parent company.
After being arrested and booked into jail, Murphy informed his lawyer that he was in a different state at the time of the crime. The charges against him were eventually dropped, but Murphy claims that he was beaten and gang raped in jail just hours before his release. The lawsuit argues that all of this happened because the defendants relied on faulty facial recognition technology.
This case is not an isolated incident, as facial recognition technology has led to wrongful arrests in the past. The lawsuit highlights that companies often promote near-perfect accuracy of facial recognition systems, but the real-world accuracy rates are much lower. Murphy is seeking $10 million in damages to compensate for his wrongful imprisonment and the permanent injuries he suffered as a result of the false arrest and subsequent assault.
