Facial recognition falsely IDs mom as attempted murder suspect in Michigan, lawsuit says
A Michigan woman has filed a lawsuit after she says she was wrongfully arrested due to faulty facial recognition.
The lawsuit lists the City of Detroit and several Detroit Police Department employees as defendants.
A representative of the city of Detroit told McClatchy News that facial recognition was not used and was not what led to the woman’s arrest.
On Jan. 23, 2024, LaDonna Crutchfield was lying down reading to her 5-year-old daughter before heading off to start her 10-hour work shift at her second job when she heard a knock at the door.
When she opened the door, six Detroit police officers were there, according to a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 21.
The officers initially told Crutchfield she had an arrest warrant after she failed to show up for court, the lawsuit said, but this was not true and Crutchfield did not have a warrant out for her arrest.
Crutchfield was arrested in front of her children, the lawsuit said. Then, when she was inside a police cruiser, she learned the real accusation behind her arrest: assault with attempt to murder, according to the civil complaint.
At the police station, Crutchfield was interviewed by detectives and shown photos of a “black heavy-set woman,” the lawsuit said. She was then asked if she was the person in the photos.
“Why? Because I am fat and black like her?” Crutchfield asked the detective.
Investigators then told Crutchfield they believed she was involved in a shooting, according to the lawsuit. It goes on to say that Crutchfield was identified as a suspect by a facial recognition database.
“This is a completely false allegation. There was absolutely no use of any facial recognition technology involving Ms. Crutchfield in this investigation. It is a blatant fabrication made up by her attorney,” Chief of Police Todd Bettison told McClatchy News in an email.
Crutchfield told authorities she was at work at the time of the shooting and was able to prove it. She was then told she could be released if she gave a DNA sample and had her fingerprints taken, the complaint said.
Crutchfield went home and explained to her children that she was OK and it was a case of mistaken identity, the lawsuit said.
“She could not stop crying thinking about her children witnessing her being arrested,” the complaint said.
When she returned to the police station to get documentation of her being cleared, a detective told her his sergeant said she “should have never been arrested,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the city of Detroit “allowed (the detective) and others to engage in a pattern of racial discrimination of (Crutchfield) and other Black citizens by using facial recognition technology practices proven to misidentify Black citizens at a higher rate than others in violation of the equal protection guaranteed by Elliott-Larsen Act.”
The lawsuit is asking for an undetermined amount in damages.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Facial recognition falsely IDs mom as attempted murder suspect in Michigan, lawsuit says."
