Detroit woman suing police, claiming faulty facial recognition technology led to unjust arrest

By David K. Li

Faulty use of facial recognition technology led to the unjust arrest of a Detroit woman, she said in a federal lawsuit, claiming police failed to ask basic questions that could’ve cleared her on the spot.

LaDonna Crutchfield, 37, was at home with her children on Jan. 23 last year when police took her away in handcuffs and accused the mother of being their prime suspect in an attempted murder, according to her complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Crutchfield “was identified as a suspect by an unknown facial recognition database,” the lawsuit said.

Investigators knew the name of their suspect — not Crutchfield — and also could’ve easily seen the plaintiff is 5 inches shorter and several years younger than the alleged shooter, Crutchfield’s attorney Ivan Land told NBC News on Friday.

Detroit police concede that Crutchfield turned out not to be the suspect that detectives were searching for — but insisted that facial recognition technology wasn’t used here.

“Facial (recognition) was never run. In this case, it was never submitted,” Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald said.

Police first linked Crutchfield to this probe through a partial license plate of the shooter, Fitzgerald said.

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Facial recognition has also caused problems in other spaces.

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