In a distressing incident, an innocent Black man found himself wrongfully arrested and detained for nearly a week due to what appears to be a grave misuse of facial recognition technology. Randal Quran Reid, a 29-year-old resident, was en route to his mother's home just outside Atlanta on the day after Thanksgiving when he was pulled over by the police.
The officers informed Reid that there was a warrant out for his arrest in Jefferson Parish, which left him puzzled as he had never even been to Louisiana. He was subsequently taken into custody and transported to a DeKalb County jail to await extradition to Louisiana.
Reid's questioning of the reason for his arrest was met with vague responses. The officers seemed uncertain about the details of the warrant and repeatedly mentioned it was outside their jurisdiction.
According to Reid's lawsuit, the officers from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office relied on facial recognition technology to identify him as a suspect wanted for allegedly using stolen credit cards to purchase designer purses worth approximately $15,000 in Jefferson and East Baton Rouge Parishes.
However, it's alleged that the technology produced three names, including Quran's, and the detective seemingly sought arrest warrants without conducting a more comprehensive investigation or verifying Quran's identity against store surveillance footage.
The lawsuit names Deputy Andrew Bartholomew and Sheriff Joseph P. Lopinto III of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office as defendants. Lopinto declined to provide a statement due to ongoing litigation, while Bartholomew did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.
It's important to note that facial recognition technology is utilized by police departments across all states, often shrouded in secrecy, as highlighted by Nate Freed Wessler from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The technology's lack of transparency and tendency to misidentify individuals has led to wrongful arrests in multiple cases, with all known instances involving Black or African-American individuals.
Reid endured six days in a DeKalb County prison while his family and legal team worked tirelessly to prove his innocence before his scheduled extradition to Louisiana. After Reid's lawyers provided multiple pictures to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, confirming they had the wrong person, the warrants were eventually dropped, and he was released.
Reid's legal team believes that the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office uses facial recognition technology provided by Clearview AI, Inc. Clearview AI, Inc. confirmed that over a million searches have been conducted using their technology but emphasized that even if their technology initially identifies a person, it is law enforcement's responsibility to investigate further based on additional factors.
Reid expressed the profound impact this wrongful arrest had on him, both physically and emotionally. He lost trust in the justice system, highlighting the disturbing reality that innocent individuals can be incarcerated for crimes they never committed.
In another development, an Oklahoma mother, Amanda Moffett, is now facing the possibility of prison time for a tragic incident back in 2018 that resulted in the accidental death of her 16-year-old daughter. See detailed story here
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