Man files lawsuit over arrest, alleging that AI falsely accused him of robbery
A Texas man filed a lawsuit on Jan. 18 claiming that he was wrongfully accused of stealing from a Sunglass Hut location in Houston. He alleged that facial recognition software wrongly identified him and led to him being accused of the crime.
According to HuffPost, Harvey Murphy Jr., 61, is suing Macy’s and parent company EssilorLuxottica — the parent company of Sunglass Hut — for false imprisonment and negligence.
He is seeking $10 million from the lawsuit, per CNN.
The events leading to the lawsuit
In January 2022, two armed men robbed a Sunglass Hut in Houston, Texas, and threatened employees before stealing money and multiple pairs of glasses, as reported by Entreprenuer.
Houston police arrived at the crime scene, where they met an EssilorLuxottica representative who worked in conjunction with Macy’s loss prevention department. The representative stated that Murphy was identified with Macy’s facial recognition and artificial intelligence software, per HuffPost.
The stores, according to CNN, labeled Murphy as a suspect in the case and in previous robberies that affected both companies.
After a Sunglass Hat employee identified Murphy to Houston police from a photo lineup, he was eventually taken into custody at a Texas DMV, HuffPost reported.
Murphy was held in jail for almost two weeks until officials allegedly discovered he had an alibi: He was imprisoned in Sacramento, California, during the time of the robbery. The charges were dropped and he was free to leave.
But before Murphy was freed, he says he was sexually assaulted by other men at the prison, according to Murphy’s attorney, Daniel Dutko, who spoke with USA Today.
What has been said about the case
Murphy, according to CNN, is only suing the companies involved, not the Houston Police Department.
“After reviewing the documents, it appears to us that the police were trying to do their job,” said Dutko. “They were misled by Sunglass Hut and Macy’s and the reason why Murphy was jailed is because of the actions of these companies.”
Dutko added, “We may find information that causes us to add them later, but right now we feel like we have properly named the true bad actors.”
Dutko told HuffPost that his client is still reliving the terrible moment.
“When I asked him about the press this case was receiving, he said it was hard for him to keep thinking what happened to him, but he hoped the coverage would prevent this from happening to anyone in the future.”
Per USA Today, Murphy has since met with a psychologist and psychiatrist to be treated for the trauma during his jail time.
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